Northrop N-1M

N-1M
	Northrop N-1M on display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Restored to its final flight configuration.
Role	Flying wing
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Northrop Corporation
Designer	Jack Northrop
First flight	3 July 1940
Retired	1945
Status	Experimental
Number built	1
Developed from	Northrop N-1
Variants	Northrop N-9M

The Northrop N-1M (Northrop Model 1 Mockup),

Northrop Aircraft

during the 1940s.

Design and development

Walter and Reimar Horten's record-setting "tailless" flying wing glider designs being tested in Germany beginning in 1934.^[4]

The N-1M was one of a progression of experimental aircraft that further developed Northrop's all-wing concept. The aircraft was produced in the United States and was developed during 1939 and 1940 as a flying testbed for the purpose of proving Jack Northrop's vision of a practical Flying Wing. Built mostly of specially laminated layers of glued wood, the design of both wooden wings allowed for easy configuration changes with the central blended fuselage, which was made of tubular steel. The aircraft first flew on 3 July 1941 at Baker Dry Lake in California.^[5]^{[N 1]}

Operational history

Northrop's Chief Test Pilot Vance Breese flew the N-1M on its maiden flight, unexpectedly bouncing into the air during a planned high-speed taxi run. He reported that the aircraft could fly no higher than five feet. Flight could only be sustained by maintaining a precise

ailerons, while split flaps on the downward angled wingtips took the place of a conventional rudder; they were later straightened after that angle proved unnecessary during flight testing.^[6]

The flight test program continued with Moye W. Stephens, Northrop Test Pilot and Secretary to the Northrop Corporation, serving as a test pilot. Early tests showed the N-1M to be satisfactory in stability and control, but overweight and underpowered. The aircraft's two 65-horsepower (48 kW) Lycoming O-145 four-cylinder engines (buried in the wing to reduce drag) were replaced by two 120-horsepower (89 kW) six-cylinder 6AC264F2 air-cooled Franklin engines. By November 1941, after 28 flights, Stephens reported that when attempting to move the N-1M about its vertical axis, the aircraft had a tendency to "Dutch roll." The oscillations proved to be manageable when adjustments were made to the aircraft's wing configuration.^[6]

The N-1M proved to be basically sound, paving the way for Northrop's later and much larger Northrop YB-35 and YB-49 aircraft. The aircraft was donated to the United States Army Air Forces in 1945 and was placed in the storage collection of the National Air Museum the following year. It sat there for nearly three decades, but was brought back to static, non-flying status, in its final flight configuration, after several years of restoration during the 1980s. The N-1M is now on public display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.^[6]

Specifications (N-1M)

Data from American X&Y Planes^[6]

General characteristics

Crew: one
Length: 17 ft 11 in (5.46 m)
Wingspan: 38 ft 8 in (11.79 m)
Height: 4 ft 11 in (1.50 m)
Wing area: 350 sq ft (33 m²) (approx)
Gross weight: 3,900 lb (1,769 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Lycoming O-145 four-cylinder horizontally opposed air-cooled piston engines, 65 hp (48 kW) each (original engines)
Powerplant: 2 × Franklin 6AC-264F2 six-cylinder air-cooled horizontally opposed piston engines, 117 hp (87 kW) each (after reengining) ^[1]

Performance

Maximum speed: 200 mph (320 km/h, 170 kn)
Range: 300 mi (480 km, 260 nmi)
Service ceiling: 4,000 ft (1,200 m)

References

Notes

^ Heavily illustrated, authoritative N-1M article.

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c "Northrop N1M". National Air and Space Museum. Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on 2017-01-02. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
^ Plletier, Alain J. "Towards the Ideal Aircraft?" Air Enthusiast, No. 17, July/August 1996. pp.15,17.
^ Maloney 1988, p. 1.
^ Coleman 1988, p. 84.
^ O'Leary 2007
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Darling 2009 ^{[page needed]}