Some more UFO stuff

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Rare 1974 interview with John Northrop, Co-Founder, Pres. & Chief Engineer of Northrop Aircraft on UFOs. Stanton Friedman is interviewed in second half.

"...probably 85 to 90% of the sightings of UFOs are not really unidentified flying objects, in other words there is an answer to approx 90% of the sightings that are made which correspond to the present techniques that we have. There remains a 10% to 15% number which cannot be explained by any of our present science. So there's a natural reason to a certain extent for ridicule." - John Northrop

John Knudsen “Jack” Northrop was born on November 10, 1895, in Newark, New Jersey. He later said, “My grammar school and high school education, outside of the school of hard knocks, was the only education I ever had.” But he was a good student and his lack of degrees was more than compensated for by his strong work ethic and drive to succeed. His decision to use his mechanical talent in the nascent aviation industry came when he saw a “pusher” biplane. In 1916, Jack got a job as a draftsman for the Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company, ancestor of today’s Lockheed Martin Corporation. During his second stint at Loughead that had been renamed Lockheed, he was the principal designer of the Lockheed Vega. The Vega was a rugged, long-range, six-seat monoplane with a cantilever wing that was responsible for many range and airspeed records. Its remarkable performance made it a favourite of such aviation heroes as Wiley Post, Amelia Earhart and Hubert Wilkins.

The Northrop Corporation’s first true flying wing was the N-1M in 1940. It was the basis of a prototype bomber, the XB-35, an elegant looking aircraft of polished aluminium. The combined flight controls – “elevons” that functioned as both elevators and ailerons and flaps that acted as rudders were mounted on the trailing edges of the wings. All major parts such as the crew nacelle, fuel tanks and bomb bays were inside the wing. It had contra-rotating propellers, two of them mounted one behind the other on each engine shaft and turning in opposite directions. However, the programme was beset by production delays and disappointing range and speed performance. Besides, with the start of the atomic age an American bomber needed to be able to carry a 10,000-pound atomic bomb and there was no way the XB-35 or even its jet-powered successor the YB-49 could house such a huge weapon in the wing. Of the more conventional designs of the Northrop Corporation, the XP-56 Black Bullet, a welded magnesium fighter was a significant World War II design. And the Northrop P-61 Black Widow, of which more than 700 were built, was the first American night interceptor. After the War came the Northrop F-89 Scorpion all-weather interceptor.

The failure of the XB-35 and later the YB-49 to be selected as the next generation bomber aircraft, shattered John Northrop. This quiet and gentle genius retired at the age of 57 in 1952 and then tried his hand at real estate, losing a fortune in the process. By the late 1970s, illness left him unable to walk or speak. However, in an unusually humane gesture for the US Air Force, Jack was shown secret drawings and a scale model of the Northrop Grumman B-2, and he recognised how it shared several features of his XB-35 and YB-49. Even the wingspan of 172 feet was similar to that of the YB-49. His lifelong passion for the flying wing finally vindicated, Northrop wrote on a sheet of paper: “Now I know why God has kept me alive for 25 years.” He died ten months later on February 18, 1981.

John Northrop

He broke a decades-long silence on the Flying Wing's demise in a 1979 television interview, accusing the Air Force of killing the project to punish him for refusing to merge his company with Consolidated Vultee. He alleged that Air Force Secretary Stuart Symington threatened him by saying, "You’ll be goddamned sorry if you don’t". Symington later left the government to head the very same Consolidated Vultee company Northrop had refused to merge with.

Symington called the charge "preposterous and absurd" and told a researcher "There was a tremendous overcapacity in the industry following World War II". He said Northrop came to him, seeking more business to help his struggling company. Symington said, "I may very well have suggested that he merge his company with Convair, who we knew was going to get business." Aviation expert Bud Baker, who studied declassified documents and public records and conducted personal interviews with Symington, Air Force generals and Northrop's chairman, concluded the cancellation "was a sound decision, based on budgetary, technical, and strategic realities."
Wiki

The number of acquisitions by Northrop since the 80s is absolutely astonishing.

Dan Aykroyd Interview





Starts Dec. 1st on the History Channel.