Flying Wings in WWII

[luakel]

So, what POD's are needed to get the flying wings of Jack Northrop and the Horten Brothers into active service on one or both sides during WWII?

 

[Count Dearborn]

(For the German side.)
For one thing, a united front within the German government. All aircraft experimentation being put under one umbrella, instead of have a dozen different departments working on fifty different projects.

Invention fly-by-wire technology.
Mid-air refueling.
The building of a German aircraft carrier that handle them.

 

[CalBear]

A much longer or later war (I do not believe that the B-49 was ready for service until 1949).

Better avionics.

A reason to chose the flying wing design over the convention designs.

The B-2 is only in servce because of Stealth, the design offers no other operational advantage. It could be argued that the design is actually quite flawed as it dynamically unstable and it is controlable only with constant computer oversight. The fact that it is, for tactical purposes, invisible, mitigates this. None of the WW II designs had this advantage, or any other advantage that would make them a compelling choice.

 

[icarus999]

The fact that it is, for tactical purposes, invisible, mitigates this. None of the WW II designs had this advantage, or any other advantage that would make them a compelling choice.

Well actually, the DeHavilland Mosquito was considered to have minor stealth capabilities due to the wing design and the radar-absorbing balsa/basswood it was constructed from.

 

[Flocculencio]

Well actually, the DeHavilland Mosquito was considered to have minor stealth capabilities due to the wing design and the radar-absorbing balsa/basswood it was constructed from.

Yes but the Mosquito was not a flying wing. Read for context, old chap.

 

[Prinz Richard Eugen]

The German's biggest problem in all weapons development was always too many competing projects for too little resources. If you want a flying wing, you need to drop lots of other projects and move those resources to the flying wing. But why would the Germans do this? The design is quite unlike a normal aircraft of the times. And there are other programs much nearer to completion than Horten's. It would be a long wait for such a German project.

Not so for the US. If they had stuck to a prop-driven flying wing, it would have bee ready by 1947 (as the B-35). It was slowed by the end of the war and cutting of military spending. Unlike Germany, the US could afford to proceed with many programs at the same timw.