The saga of man’s ongoing effort to tame the flying wing has many facets, but none shine as brightly today as Northrop’s N9MB. Her original history can be found in my previous article (click here to view). After making what was thought to be her final flight in May of 1945, the aircraft was placed in storage, then put on display at Planes of Fame in Chino, California. The museum began to breathe new life into the aircraft in 1982, scrounging exotic materials and fabricating parts whose blueprints were long lost to history.
After a 13 year restoration, (over four times longer than the original design, manufacturing and testing of the aircraft), she would take to the skies after a 49 year hiatus. In recent years, she serves as a crowd favorite at her local airshow, soaring over the High Desert of California, allowing a surreal look back into the golden age of flight test.