Northrop B-35

Northrop B-35
U.S. Air Force · Public domain · source
Name	Northrop B-35
Type	Heavy bomber prototype
Manufacturer	Northrop Corporation
First flight	1946 (prototype test programs)
Status	Cancelled project

Northrop B-35 The Northrop B-35 was a proposed American heavy bomber developed during World War II by the Northrop Corporation under the direction of Jack Northrop. Conceived as a tailless flying wing to deliver strategic payloads, the program intersected with key figures and organizations such as Consolidated Aircraft, Douglas Aircraft Company, the United States Army Air Forces, and the United States Air Force. The project’s evolution involved interactions with industrial leaders like Howard Hughes, government entities including the War Production Board and the Air Materiel Command, and technical influences from contemporary projects such as the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Convair B-36 Peacemaker, and work by designers associated with the Hughes H-4 Hercules program.

Design and development

Design work began as part of Jack Northrop’s long-standing research into flying wing aerodynamics which traced intellectual lineage to studies by the Aero Research Limited era designers and British aerodynamicists such as those at the Royal Aircraft Establishment. Early concepts drew on unpublished wind-tunnel data from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and consultations with engineers from Lockheed Corporation and Douglas Aircraft Company. The program received contractual attention from the United States Army Air Forces during late-war strategic bomber planning alongside procurement debates involving the War Production Board and the Truman administration’s advisers. Political considerations included testimony before congressional committees chaired by members linked to the House Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Armed Services Committee, while industrial coordination included subcontracting negotiations with companies like Pratt & Whitney and General Electric for powerplants and turbochargers.

Technical description

The B-35’s tailless configuration emphasized a high-aspect-ratio cantilever wing integrating bomb bays, crew stations, and engine nacelles in a blended center section—an approach informed by aerodynamicists associated with the Langley Research Center and experimental work paralleling projects such as the North American XB-35 series and the Horten Ho 229 from Germany. Propulsion concepts considered piston engines from Wright Aeronautical and early turboprop ideas being evaluated at General Electric and Allison Engine Company. Avionics proposals referenced equipment developed for the Lockheed P-38 Lightning and navigation suites influenced by instruments used in Operation Matterhorn and Operation Carpetbagger. Defensive armament arrangements and crew ergonomics were compared to installations on the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and the Consolidated B-24 Liberator, while structural materials planning invoked techniques employed by contractors such as Vultee Aircraft and suppliers like Alcoa.

Operational history

The B-35 never reached operational status with frontline units such as those assigned to Strategic Air Command or the postwar United States Air Force wing organizations responsible for long-range striking capability. Testing and mock-up evaluations occurred concurrently with service tests for aircraft like the Boeing B-47 Stratojet and strategic assessments by staff of Air Force Systems Command. Program reviews were informed by strategic planners influenced by analyses from think tanks such as the Rand Corporation and interservice debates involving the Department of the Navy over carrier aviation priorities. International developments, including the emergence of the Soviet Union’s jet programs and the Berlin airlift operational tempo, altered perceptions of bomber requirements during the postwar drawdown.

Variants and proposed derivatives

Northrop and its subcontractors proposed multiple configurations and derivatives intended to expand range, payload, and propulsion technology, paralleling contemporary concept studies like the Convair XB-36 and the Douglas XB-19. Proposed powerplant variants considered combinations of Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radials, turboprops developed with General Electric collaboration, and mixed-propulsion schemes similar to experimental prototypes evaluated by Lockheed and Boeing. Long-range reconnaissance, nuclear-capable strategic bomber, and transport derivatives were sketched in design memoranda circulated within the Air Materiel Command and the National Defense Research Committee.

Project cancellation and legacy

Cancellation resulted from shifting postwar priorities, budgetary constraints overseen by the Bureau of the Budget, and competing platforms like the Convair B-36 Peacemaker and jet-powered designs. The legacy influenced later flying wing and stealth concepts studied by organizations including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Northrop Corporation successor entities, and aeronautical research centers such as Langley Research Center. Technical lessons found their way into later programs tied to the Skunk Works at Lockheed Martin and to bomber concepts that eventually culminated in designs embraced by Strategic Air Command planners and in stealth theory employed by projects associated with the United States Air Force.

Surviving artifacts and replicas

No complete B-35 prototype survives in museum collections curated by institutions like the Smithsonian Institution or the National Museum of the United States Air Force, though archival drawings, mock-ups, and correspondence are preserved among the papers of Jack Northrop, some held at repositories such as the Huntington Library and university aerospace archives. Scale models and wind-tunnel models have been displayed in exhibitions alongside artifacts from the Boeing B-29 Superfortress and the Consolidated B-24 Liberator in museums administered by state historical societies and aviation foundations. Enthusiast groups and preservation societies occasionally construct full-scale replicas inspired by Northrop’s flying wing research for airshows that also feature reproductions of aircraft like the Horten Ho 229 and the Hughes H-4 Hercules.

Category:Proposed military aircraft of the United States