I was looking forward to seeing this beauty at the Chino Airshow, like I do every year. I live in the flight path of the show and feel so fortunate to also see these sacred War Birds during the rest of the year as they are flown for maintenance. I've been looking in the sky, discerning sounds(I have, through the years, developed my hearing to pick out the almost mundane, but slightly sweeping sound of the "Stealth" body in flight overhead) looking for this rare sight for the last couple of weeks especially, knowing of the upcoming Airshow and how these iconic planes are put in the air overhead for preparation a couple of weeks in advance. Finding out what happened to this exact plane I've been looking for each coming day has struck me right in the heart. These War Birds are National Treasures and so are the Pilots who take them to the sky. My respect and condolences are with the family of the Pilot, and The Chino Planes of Fame Air Museum.
Those were one of a kind planes. If I remember correctly, Northrup built a series of prototypes at this time, these were slide rule planes, and they wanted some prototype airframes for testing. To keep expenses down they used a lot of wood in the construction, and the wing panels were covered with waterproof plywood, similar to the construction used for PT boats. I believe they had at least one jet powered prototype. They also had a four engine piston design. After flight testing and some fatal crashes, these flying wing prototypes were all scrapped with the exception of the plane in the video. Which is now destroyed, with the loss of the pilot. The R&D they achieved with these test planes resulted in the B2 bomber design.
I’m heartbroken over this weeks events. I’ve seen this historic plane since the late 80s being restored and to see it fly once again at many airshows and even being blessed with it to fly over my house. RIP David truly a awesome guy and historian.
