The Northrop YB-49 flying wing as a passenger airplane -an excerpt from a promotional video of 1948, and nothing for the vertiginous
Posted by Xeelee1123@reddit | WeirdWings | View on Reddit | 32 comments
watalily-2537@reddit
I actually want to ride on this beautiful airplane.
xerberos@reddit
The aircraft manufacturers always try to pitch bombers as passenger aircraft when they realize there are no orders coming from the military. They even tried it with the B-58 and the XB-70.
airfryerfuntime@reddit
My god, a B58 passenger jet would be unhinged.
Intelligent_Age_6284@reddit
I would 10000% pay however much a ticket would cost for a ride in a XB-70
Beli_Mawrr@reddit
The good news is that there IS an amount of money you could pay to ride in a valk in a few years. The bad news is that when you hear the number you won't want to anymore.
BlackFoxTom@reddit
I mean it works both ways
How many private jets and airliners were modified for military
ctesibius@reddit
Well, there were plans to strap three Blue Steel
AmericanFlyer530@reddit
Nimrod wasn’t the only A2A capable MPA.
P-3C could also mount AIM-9 on the outer hardpoints.
HumpyPocock@reddit
NIMROD MR2P dual AIM-9 SIDEWINDERS
CAPTION ⸱ HS Nimrod MR2P XV254 photographed in January 1983 with underwing SIDEWINDER missiles.
CONTEXT ⸱ Falklands War resulted in the provision of in-flight refuelling equipment and so an HS801 was quickly adapted as the HS801 Nimrod MR2P. The aircraft was also equipped with the ability to carry the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile for self-defence. Further equipment changes were introduced to support operations in the Gulf theatre.
BAE SYSTEMS Heritage plus direct link to PHOTO
LightningGeek@reddit
The MRA was a much later development of the Nimrod, not the one used in the Falkands.
The main Nimrod variants were the MR1 (Maritime Reconnaissance), the R1 (Reconnaissance, Signals Intelligence in modern parlance), MR2, the ill fated AEW (Airborne Early Warning) and lastly the also ill fated MRA4 (Maritime Reconnaissance and Attack) which never saw active service.
There were also some sub-variants, and specifically for the Falklands, the MR2P was made, which included an air to air refuelling boom, as well as the Sidewinder hardpoint modification.
propsie@reddit
Everyone was at it. They even tried it for the Avro Vulcan and the Tu-95
I_am_BrokenCog@reddit
and, many retired bombers were used as passenger planes.
Diogenes256@reddit
B-58 would be perfect for beating deadlines.
throwaway12junk@reddit
An XB-70 passenger aircraft would be awesome.
ToeSniffer245@reddit
America could’ve won the SST race that way
xerberos@reddit
Some more info here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/WeirdWings/comments/iwcq0v/xb_70_sst/
MasterofPeridots@reddit
Tupolev had far more success with that.
sentinelthesalty@reddit
Ngl cruising supersonic on a valkyrie would have been baller.
StGenevieveEclipse@reddit
That's exactly where you want passengers to be in a crash: in a pexiglass leading edge of the wing. The views from flight would be incredible but you're basically in 10Forward when the Enterprise D crashlands in Generations.
tadeuska@reddit
If it crashes, it doesn't help to be at any special location. Ejection seat, but before the crash, that might help.
FrenchMaddy75@reddit
Most of wide body plane crash survivors were located next to the tail.
Ote-Kringralnick@reddit
Isn't is normally near the wings, because that section is the least likely to break apart?
I_am_BrokenCog@reddit
it depends on how the airplane is crashing. there is no uniformly safe location.
Legitimate-Sky-6820@reddit
Ofc the type of crash that happens on a wide body would not happen here, its feasibly impossible to actually reach the stall speed of the flying wing in a crash meaning that this would likely be FAR better then setting at the tail that would get ground off during first contact at slow speed.
The crash speed would likely be less then half of a jet liner, but on the other hand the flying wing has plentiful other creative ways to kill you.
All in all tho there is a solid argument for the safety of a controlled crash landing.
I_am_BrokenCog@reddit
well, Rule 1 is always keep flying the plane into the crash site.
but, I feel like you're describing two different scenarios.
non-flying wing airplanes such as Wide Body airliners have crashed in a stall, and crashed in high speed dives and everything in between.
Passengers in the tail section of a stalling crash don't survive, but, passengers in the tail section of a slow speed flying crash often do survive ...
I guess the lesson is buy two seats. Relocate as appropriate during an Emergency.
lol.
D74248@reddit
Not that different from first class/row 1 on a 747, other than the view.
Some1-Somewhere@reddit
The proportion of people in those seats goes up a lot, though.
AsleepNinja@reddit
well you dont have to worry about burning to death that way
zalurker@reddit
The motion sickness of the poor economy class passengers towards the wingtips...
joeChump@reddit
Should have paid the Ryanair upgrade and got chloroformed before take off. Too late now and even the anorexic air stewardess can’t crawl through the pipes to bring me a bag of nuts.
NoDoze-@reddit
That would have been impressive! Sign me up! LOL
Xeelee1123@reddit (OP)
Source: https://youtu.be/JMTwQ9b5hvk
Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=759580623116089&set=a.191040519970105
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YB-49