 Vintage Aircraft Boosters Club |
 The "Supercruiser" The Vintage Aircraft Boosters Club Southern California Historical Aviation Foundation Western Museum of Flight Newsletter 12016 Prairie Avenue, Hawthorne, California 90250 Phone: (310) 332-6228 * * * FAX: (310) 644-6778 * * * Internet: www.wmof.com |
 Southern California Historical Aviation Foundation |
| John A. Shupek, VABC Commissioner | Issue #97-09, October 1997 | Garry R. Pape, WMOF Curator |
elcome to the October issue of the "Supercruiser," the Vintage Aircraft Boosters Club, Southern California Historical Aviation Foundation, Western Museum of Flight’s monthly newsletter.
| "The End of a Legacy" by Garry R. Pape |
was going through my 1941 issue of Jane’s All The World’s Aircraft the other day. There was a startling fact that jumped out at me. It can be presented in list form as follows:
Company logo of Northrop Aircraft, Inc.
In 1998, the list of major military aircraft manufacturers will be down to two! The Northrop Grumman Corporation will be the last to go when it is absorbed into Lockheed Martin. At that time it will become another of the great names of aviation to disappear into the history books.
John K. "Jack" Northrop
The Northrop Grumman Corporation of today is the result of a far-sighted aircraft designer John K. Northrop. John K. "Jack" Northrop founded this company in 1939. There were certain things that Jack Northrop sought to achieve with his new company. He wanted to do research in general, and in particular he wanted to bring his dream of bring an all-wing aircraft into the main stream of aviation. He also wanted to organize his company so stockholders wouldn’t interfere with his endeavors.
Northrop P-61 "Black Widow"
During the period of World War II Northrop Aircraft, Inc. spent more time and money in pursuit of the flying wing as it did on other more conventional aircraft. Compared to the other aircraft manufacturers of the day, NAI produced very few aircraft during the war (under 1,500 - which included the N-3PB for the Norwegians, the P-61 Black Widow, and Vultee Vengeance dive bombers).
Vultee Vengeance Dive Bomber
Northrop was able to pursue various flying wing and tailless aircraft designs during this period. During this time flying mockups and experimental aircraft such as the N-1M, N-9M, MX-224/324, JB-1, JB-10, XP-56, and XP-79 were designed and flown. Jack Northrop came very close to his dream of producing a full-size flying wing aircraft in quantity with his B-35 bomber design.
Jack Northrop with N-1M "Flying Wing"
Unfortunately, his large flying bomber did not get airborne until 1946. With the end of hostilities the US Army Air Forces was being reduced in size (both in manpower and equipment) very rapidly. The reduction in the War Department, soon to be Department of Defense, budget would also hit the entire military aircraft industry very hard during the post war period of 1946 to 1950. These factors and the proposed Boeing B-52 spelled the end of the B-35/B-49 series of Northrop flying wings. In late 1942 the Martin B-33 project was canceled so funds and personnel from Martin could be made available for Northrop’s B-35 project. In the late 1940’s some of the funds that could have gone to the Northrop B/RB-49 flying wing projects went to one of it’s rivals, the B-36. All together, this spelled the end of the Northrop flying wing, at least for the near future.
Northrop N-9M "Flying Wing" Formation
In November 1952 Jack Northrop left his beloved company. One might wonder if what has ended today’s Northrop Grumman was not unlike what caused Jack Northrop to leave. Such possibilities as the Department of Defense thinking a reduced defense industry is needed (don’t we ever learn from our mistakes?) and stockholder enrichment over the company good (this is not unique to the aircraft industry) seem to be common factors.
Northrop B-35 "Flying Wing" Cutaway
Northrop YB-49 "Flying Wing" Bomber
Northrop F-89 "Scorpion" with Northrop SM-62 "Snark"
With Jack Northrop’s departure, NAI continued with two projects started under Jack Northrop’s guidance. The F-89 Scorpion was a mainstay for the company into the mid-1950’s. The Scorpion served in the USAF as the first line of defense against possible Soviet bomber attack against the continental United States, Greenland, and Alaska. It served with the US Air Force until the summer of 1969; after that it served for additional years with various air national guard units. During the decade of the 1950’s Northrop developed and produced the USAF’s first intercontinental guided missile. Assigned to the Strategic Air Command, the Snark was assigned to Presque Isle, Maine; the first arriving in 1958. The design of the guidance system was a major accomplishment for the Northrop engineers.
Northrop F-5 "Freedom Fighter"
As the decade of the 1950’s ended, a new Northrop was emerging. Now the Northrop Corporation, its entry into the supersonic age would be the bread and butter of the corporation for many years to come. It started as the Northrop model N-156 in the mid-1950’s as the company’s proposed light weight and low cost fighter, it would find its way into the USAF as the T-38 trainer. Though the USAF was not interested in it as a fighter, the international market was quite interested and thousands were sold to many nations as the F-5 fighter. For a decade and a half these aircraft was a major source of revenue for the corporation.
McDonnell Douglas/Northrop F/A-18 "Hornet"
In the mid-1970’s Northrop was again offering a lightweight fighter to the Air Force. Though the Air Force chose the General Dynamics’ F-16 over their YF-17, it was not for naught. The Department of the Navy indicated interest in the aircraft. But, they wanted to deal with someone who they were familiar with; thus the joint venture with McDonnell Aircraft in St. Louis, Missouri and the birth of the F/A-18 "Hornet."
Northrop Grumman B-2A "Spirit" Bomber
The F/A-18 "Hornet" and the B-2A "Spirit" bomber were Northrop’s major aircraft of the 1980’s and 90’s. Though hundreds of B-2s were initially projected, only 21 were produced. The B-2 vindicated Jack Northrop’s dream of a clean flying machine. There is much similarity in what spelled the end of Northrop’s first flying wing bomber and its last - a changing world situation and grossly reduced defense forces and budget. It is somewhat fitting that the company that was established with the main purpose of advancing the flying wing design would end producing the most advanced flying wing (and non-flying wing) aircraft for the USAF.
Jack Northrop with the B-2 Team
In 1980 Northrop Corp. was well into the B-2 project that very few would know about for many years to come. The company management had changed many times since Jack Northrop had left it. Thomas V. Jones was now its chief executive officer. It was through Jones’ personal effort that the ailing Jack Northrop was to be informed of one of this nation’s most secret projects. In April 1980 he was brought to one of the many buildings at the Corporation’s Aircraft Division in Hawthorne, California. Here he was ushered into a room where he met with the chief architects of what he was to see, John Cashen and Irv Waaland (Cashen is in the far left in the above photo with Waaland between him and Northrop). A box was brought out and opened so he could see its contents. What he saw was then called the Advanced Technology Bomber or ATB. With tears in his eyes, he said, "Now I know why God has kept me alive for the last 25 years." It pleased Northrop. There were no propeller shafts and housings as on the XB-35. And those fins and fences on the YB-49 - were also gone. The following year, on February 18th, John K. "Jack" Northrop passed away at the age of 85.
Northrop "Tacit Blue" technology demonstrator aircraft
Northrop F-20A "Tigershark"
Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23A "Black Widow II"
| "The Grumman Ironworks |
Join us as John A. Shupek, F/A-18 Program Director and VABC Commissioner, presents the first in a three part series of "An Aeronautical Salute to Northrop Grumman." The first program, "The Grumman Ironworks," will trace the aeronautical history of Grumman. John will chronicle the "Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation" from its humble beginnings in a Baldwin, New York garage, through its years at Valley Stream, Farmingdale and Bethpage, New York.
Grumman started life as one man's dream, and became one of the most respected aircraft manufacturers in the world. The Grumman years covered a period from building centerline floats for seaplanes in the 1930s, through 60+ years of designing and building front line US Navy aircraft such as the FF "Fifi", F2F, F3F, F4F, TBF/TBM, F6F, F7F, F8F, F9F, A-6, E-2, F11F, F-14, Goose, Widgeon, Albatross, etc. series of aircraft.
During World War II Grumman came to be affectionately known as the "Grumman Ironworks" when many Grumman aircraft were able to return to their aircraft carriers and land-bases badly damaged, by virtue of the aircraft’s strength and durability, and the skill of their pilots. During this presentation, John will present pictures of all the "known or published" aircraft types that flew, and some that did not fly.
As usual, the Vintage Aircraft Boosters Club will meet at the Northrop Grumman Recreation Clubhouse at 5:00 p.m. Prior to the meeting, the Western Museum of Flight will remain open until 5:00 p.m. to accommodate SCHAF members, Vintage Aircraft Booster Club members and guests.
