Originally posted by funked:
Cool show, but a lot of BS.
The B-2 was based on the Go 229? Yeah right... Northrop was building flying wings with a nearly identical configuration to the B-2 in 1943. N-9M, B-35, B-49 - that's the real heritage of the B-2.
Funked I hope you are honest enough to admit that Northrop actively used Horton brothers' studies on flying wings to his B-35 and B-49 flying wings.
It is true that to say the B2 is a "descender" of the Go-229 is going too far (in fact Horten Brothers received the go ahead from the RLM when in Germany was known that USA was studying the flying wing concept).
It is same as saying that the F-86 was descendant of the Me262. Or the MiG-15.
But those planes existed because USA and USSR had so much german information (and scientists) available. Without it, the F-86 would've been an improved P80, with straight wing, and the MiG15 won't have been at all (it was a modified german airframe design with a british engine, go figure).
It is widely admitted that Germany had the lead in aerodynamics in 1945, thanks to their study on arrow and delta wings. The Me262 wing amazed both Russians and Americans. And the Go-229 came as little less than a shock when discovered.
To say the B-2 is based on the Go-229 is not completely untrue.It is based on the same tech that the 229 used,and without the German flying wing information on american hands, I doubt a lot that the B2 existed today.
[This message has been edited by RAM (edited 12-18-2000).]
