WI: Burnelli Lifting Bodies

What would the effects on aviation development be if Vincent Burnelli developed his Lifting Body designs of the 1920s further? IOTL, he got as far as the CB-16, which was a reasonably good plane. 115mph speed, 800 miles range, and well-built. So, POD: Burnelli's CB-16 is a smashing success in 1928. He sells it to numerous airlines, and builds a bomber-configuration lifting body in the 1930s for the USAAF. What would the effects of Lifting Body airliners and long-range bombers available in the 1930s be?

EDIT: Just realized that I put this in the wrong forum. Who do I PM to have it moved?
 
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Nothing much, unfortunately. The drag is too high for further improvement, given that engine development proceeds as per OTL. The configuration only works if the lifting body replaces the wings, since then a lot of induced drag is cut out. However, to make such a thing stable requires a lot more than 1930's tech. The first Northrop flying wing in the early 1950's was pretty unstable, and only cleared for certain manoeuvres.

The main problem is that the lifting body becomes efficient (lift/drag ratio maximized) at certain speeds and flight regimes that simply are not possible at the time. In order to make the aircraft flyable with crude mechanical stability controls, as per the 1930's the fuselage-wing can only take up so much of the aircraft's frontal area. To reach any usable altitude (i.e. beyond interception of the latest interceptors) wings must be added. This means we still have lots of drag, so the engine efficiency is not as improved.

Depending on the pace of development, blending the fuselage and wing is possible - see the proposed Douglas XP-67 Moonbat - in the start of the 1940's. This might lead to an earlier workable lifting body than OTL, but still not enough to affect WWII if that proceeds on schedule.
 
Hm...it may not be possible to improve performance until the 1950s, but if a stable and well-developed technology, how cheap can we make them?
 
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