>
>Interesting. I had to look up a few of those to remind myself what they
>looked like. Even more interesting was the inter-service rivalry that went
>along with it:
>
>http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/b-36-bomber-at-the-crossroads-134062323/?no-ist
>
> Seems little has changed in Washington.
>
What that article doesn't mention was what took place between the Convair
B-36 and the Northrop B-35. The B-35 could outperform the B-36, but there were
all sorts of prop/engine problems that are typical of pusher-prop designs where
turbulence from the wings results in premature prop hub failures. DoD wanted
Northrop to merge with Convair to keep Convair afloat, but when they declined
it provided the final political motivation to scrap the B-35 program, and all
of the airframes were destroyed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YB-35
As an aside, if you have a chance to watch the original "War of the
Worlds" starring Gene Barry, you'll get to see some nice film footage of the
YB-49, which was the jet-powered version of the B-35:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YB-49
Both the YB-35 and YB-49 are far better looking than the B-2.
Chris
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro
- Hunter S. Thompson
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