Drag World of Jack Northrop

The legendary designer was obsessed with “the perfect airplane,” but fate intervened. The Low-Drag World of Jack Northrop N the course of a long and illus- His turbojet-powered SM-62 Snark trious career, the legendary Jack of 1953 was one of the fi rst intercon- INorthrop created a series of outstanding tinental missiles ever seen. It featured aircraft that ranged from a tiny wooden inertial navigation moderated by stellar biplane to gigantic fl ying wings which navigation. were, in some ways, 40 years ahead of their time. Perfect Friendly and self-effacing, but pos- Jack Northrop’s third revolution sessed of an iron will when it came stemmed from his virtual obsession to engineering, Northrop always at- with creating a “perfect airplane,” a tributed his many achievements to the flying wing that would eliminate the talent and drive of his co-workers. For weight and drag of a conventional all that, Northrop was personally at the fuselage and empennage. After 20 leading edge of three distinct revolu- years of effort, Northrop seemed to tions in aviation technology. have reached his goal with the huge The first was brought about by his XB-35 bomber and its jet variants. series of sleek wooden monoplanes Then fate stepped in, either in the that became the chosen mounts for form of technology or, as some say, famous explorers and record-setters government subversion, and Northrop such as Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post, saw his flying wing dreams collapse Charles Lindbergh, and Roscoe Turner, in a heap of canceled contracts. to name a few. John Knudsen Northrop was born Next, Northrop roiled the aviation in Newark, N.J., on Nov. 10, 1895. industry with a succession of swift Charles and Helen, his parents, moved silver aircraft featuring his innovative the family west in stages, ultimately all-metal stressed skin construction settling in Santa Barbara, Calif. From techniques. Using a low wing, huge 1906 through 1923, Charles Northrop bell cowling, and tightly streamlined operated a small construction business, “trousered” landing gear, the “civil building and remodeling homes. Northrops” outperformed most of the Young Jack Northrop became in- first-line military fighters of the day. terested in aviation in his early teens They were quickly adopted by aerial when he witnessed Didier Masson, adventurers and widely used by airlines who modestly termed himself “the around the world. world’s greatest aviator,” flying over There followed a host of military Los Angeles. variants, one of which—the Douglas Northrop inherited his father’s me- SBD Dauntless—proved to be a deci- chanical skills. After graduation from sive weapon in the Battle of Midway. high school, he put them to use, work- The hand of Northrop could be seen ing on automobiles in a garage owned in even more-advanced designs such by a local named William Rust. He next as the famed P-61 Black Widow, the accepted a position in an architect’s trimotor C-125 Raider, and the F-89 office, where he performed minor de- Scorpion interceptor. signing and learned the fundamentals 76 AIR FORCE Magazine / October 2005 Photos viaWalter Boyne J. The Low-Drag World of Jack Northrop By Walter J. Boyne Jack Northrop (standing, right) was an innovator fascinated with sleek, clean aerodynamic lines. He is shown here with test pilot Moye Stephens, who is sitting in the cockpit of the N- 1M, Northrop’s fi rst effort at a “fl ying wing,” circa 1940. AIR FORCE Magazine / October 2005 77 Moonlighting for Ryan Airlines in San Diego with Douglas chief draftsman Art Mankey, he redesigned the wing of the Ryan M-1, the direct antecedent of Charles Lindbergh’s immortal Spirit of St. Louis. With the refinements in design, the engineers shaved 250 pounds off the weight of the wing—weight savings that showed up directly in the Lindbergh airplane. Despite the excellence of the Doug- Northrop was a seminal las and Ryan aircraft, Northrop hated figure in aviation, pio- neering advancements what he saw as excessive drag of their at both Lockheed and struts and wires. Working at home, he Douglas before striking designed a clean commercial mono- out with his own com- plane with a cantilever wing, without pany, which today is among the top three any struts or wires. During the same defense contractors. period, discussions with Stadlman led to his vision of the ideal airplane, a pure flying wing that would dispense with the weight and drag of the traditional fuselage and empennage. Stadlman and Northrop would later fall out over the question of who was the true father of the flying wing. In 1926, Northrop parted amicably with Douglas. Allan Loughead liked Northrop’s designs, which used the same type of fuselage construction of stress analysis. This was an unusual the firm turned to the civilian market, as that of the S-1. Loughead formed accomplishment for the time, one that and Northrop designed the Loughead the Lockheed Aircraft Co. with Jack would soon prove to be invaluable. S-1, a tiny sports biplane featuring a Northrop as chief engineer. In 1916, two brothers, Allan and strong streamlined fuselage of molded Soon, Northrop was at work on Malcolm Loughead, came to Santa plywood. Northrop, factory manager a new aircraft called the Vega. The Barbara and set up shop in a part of Anthony Stadlman, and Loughead Vega made its first flight on July 4, Rust’s garage. The two brothers—who jointly patented a new method of fu- 1927, and was an immediate success, later changed the spelling of their sur- selage construction. Three layers of quickly producing a large backlog of name to Lockheed—soon encountered casein-soaked plywood strips were orders. So many pilots used it to set the 20-year-old Northrop and hired placed in a concrete mold of the records that company advertisements him as an engineer and draftsman. fuselage’s desired size and shape. boasted, “It Takes a Lockheed to Beat He was put to work on a new biplane The glue’s grip was strengthened by a Lockheed.” called the F-1. a custom-shaped inflatable rubber bag Northrop’s flexible design enabled The F-1 was a twin-engine, 10-pas- that pressed the layered strips against him to lay out concepts for follow-on senger flying boat. Northrop designed the mold, eliminating air bubbles and aircraft that repositioned the basic its 74-foot-wide wings and aided in creating a light, strong structure when Vega wing and fuselage in new con- the design of its hull and empen- cured. figurations. nage. Then he did all the three-view The S-1 was a delight to fly, but could Although Northrop was pleased at and detail drawings and took part in not compete in a market saturated with the worldwide acceptance of the Vega construction. dirt-cheap war-surplus Curtiss Jennys. design, he was convinced that new Not long afterward, however, The Lougheads closed their factory in 24ST aluminum alloys made wooden Northrop was drafted into the Army 1920. Malcolm went to Detroit, where structures obsolete. He resigned from as an infantryman. Someone noted his he founded the Lockheed Hydraulic Lockheed on June 28, 1928, to form aviation experience and transferred Brake Co. and soon became a mil- the Avion Corp. There, he laid plans him to the Signal Corps, which was lionaire. Allan acted as his West Coast for an all-metal commercial aircraft. the focus of Army aviation at the time. agent and sold real estate. He also developed his concept for a The Loughead brothers, however, made workable flying wing. a plea for his return; after six months, Enter Donald Douglas Northrop’s inaugural product, un- the request was honored. Jack Northrop Jack Northrop returned to work for veiled in 1929, was the Avion Experi- returned to Santa Barbara to conduct his father, but not for long. In 1923, mental No. 1. It was a flying wing with an analysis of Curtiss flying boats. In Northrop was picked up and hired by no commercial prospects whatsoever. moving from the Army to the aviation Donald W. Douglas in what would The center section of the Avion’s thick industry, his annual pay jumped seven- prove to be a complex relationship. His 30-foot wingspan enclosed the 90 hp fold, from $252 to $1,800. first job was to design the fuel tanks engine and cockpit. The Avion had a After World War I ended in 1918, for the Douglas World Cruiser. distinctive “reverse” tricycle landing 78 AIR FORCE Magazine / October 2005 gear, with two wheels forward and one aft. Both fixed and retractable gear were tested. Because a pure flying wing configuration was so radical, Northrop played it safe by adding a twin-boom, twin-tail empennage. Stressed Skin But the most revolutionary aspect of the Avion was Northrop’s new all- metal stressed skin construction, in which span-wise shear webs replaced the conventional wing spars. William E. Boeing visited the plant, recognized the worth of the all-metal technique, and arranged for his United Aircraft and Transport Corp. to buy Avion Corp., establishing it as the Northrop Aircraft Corp. on Jan. 1, 1930. The new arrangement permitted the Avion’s flight-test program to be Northrop pioneered all-metal airframes, streamlined design, cantilevered mono- plane wings, and the use of new metal alloys. His P-61 Black Widow (shown here) continued until September, by which was the first US night fighter, serving in both theaters of World War II. time Northrop had become convinced that his ideas on the flying wing were sound.

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