List of flying wing aircraft
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following is a list of flying wing aircraft, along with some information about their roles, successfulness, and country of origin. A flying wing aircraft is one in which the fuselage and tail sections are abandoned, and the crew operates inside a thick wing. In theory, such an aircraft has a higher lift and lower drag than conventional ones, though it can be difficult to use properly due to its inherent instability.
Some aircraft incorporate design elements fundamental to a blended wing design (such as the B-1 Lancer and F-16 Fighting Falcon), but not to the extent that a true flying wing or blended wing body would possess.
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[edit] List of flying wings
[edit] True flying wings
- Dunne monoplane (1912)
- Dunne biplane (1914)
- Arup 2 (1932)
- Hoffman (1934)
- Freel Flying Wing
- Northrop N-1M (1940)
- Horten Ho IV (1941) — glider
- Northrop N-9M (1942)
- Horten Ho 229 (1944) — One of the few planes that met Hermann Göring's infamous performance requirements, the Ho 229 was an experimental fighter built by Nazi Germany near the end of World War II.
- Horten Ho XVIII — Design of a long range jet bomber.
- Northrop XP-79 Flying Ram (1945)
- Northrop B-35 (1945) — competitor to the Convair B-36 heavy bomber
- Northrop YB-49 (1947) — YB-35 converted to use jet engines. Though proven to have stability problems and cancelled, it served as the inspiration for the B-2 Spirit.
- Vought XF5U (1947)
- Armstrong Whitworth A.W.52 (1949) — twin engined jet
- Northrop B-2 Spirit (1989) — An American stealth bomber, built as an alternative to the F-117 Nighthawk with a much larger payload.
- McDonnell Douglas A-12 Avenger II — An American attack aircraft intended to replace the United States Navy's A-6 Intruder. The project was aborted in 1991 before any aircraft were built.
- Facetmobile — experimental homebuilt aircraft
- Pterodactyl Pfledge — ultralight aircraft produced in large numbers
[edit] Blended Wing Bodies
- Boeing X-45C (2002) — unmanned aircraft
- Boeing X-48
- Lockheed Martin/Boeing RQ-3 DarkStar
- Northrop Grumman X-47 Pegasus (2003) — unmanned aircraft
- Silent Aircraft Initiative
- Wingco Atlantica (airplane) — in development
[edit] External links
- NASA Glenn Learning Technologies Project
- Progress of development of Wingco Atlantica small BWB plane
- Airliners.net picture of the Atlantica prototype aircraft, July 2004
[edit] See also
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