List of flying wing aircraft

The experimental Northrop YB-49 bomber of the 1950s.

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.

List of flying wings

True flying wings

• Arup 2 (1932)
• Hoffman (1934)
• Freel Flying Wing
• Northrop N-1M (1940)
• Horten Ho IV (1941) — glider
• Northrop N-9M (1942)
• Vought V-173 (1942)
• Baynes Bat (1943)
• 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
• Northrop Grumman Switchblade
• Dassault nEUROn — unmanned aircraft

Blended Wing Bodies

The Boeing X-48 is not a true flying wing aircraft, but a blended-body aircraft.

• 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

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

See also

• Blended wing body
• Burnelli CBY-3 and other designs by Vincent Burnelli
• Flying wing
• Lifting body
• Variable-sweep wing

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