Don't boost the Horton design into the god-like status. It was a design. One of many. It wasn't the only crazy Nazi flying wing design, it was just the lucky 1-in-a-million that made it off paper. It did not meet the criteria for its design, it did not meet basic areodynamic safey standards, and it would have been a massive flop.
There's a reason that the flying wing design isn't used. It needs fly by wire design and constant computer corrects to keep it from slipping or spinning out of the sky. Even when they have a vertical surface or engine pods to give them some stability, they were dodgy. Put the pure wing shape with no obsctructions? Disaster.
The internal engines were also a bad idea. These had very short lifespans and had to be removed and accessed constantly. Not to mention the fact that the reason all engines were external up to this point was the MASSIVE heat they gave off. They had to be separated from the airframe to keep the plane from bursting into flames.
No, the Horton design smacked of ignorance on the designers' part... It was an interesting idea that failed on too many counts and could never have recovered. It's as much a pipe dream as Hitler's "Amerikabomber" that would pound New York into submission and end the US involvement in WW2...
And you know how well THAT went for Hitler, right?
Krusty you're just making stuff up again. You know nothing about the Horten flying wing design. Northrup had stability issues but the Hortens solved theirs. When Reimar Horten saw a newspaper picture in Argentina of Northrup's flying wing he sent Northrup a letter explaining why Northrup's design was unstable and how to fix it. He got the letter back months later, opened, resealed and marked return to sender. Northrup never fixed his design but Horten flying wings flew with stability since the 1930's when they were setting new sailplane records. The actual problem with the 229 prototype was an engine fire, the aerodynamic design was fine and contrary to your opinion it was the only aircraft to meet the design specifications.
