The X-4 Bantam was a prototype small twin-jet airplane in 1948, manufactured by Northrop. It had no horizontal tail surfaces, depending instead on combined elevator and aileron control surfaces (called elevons) for control in pitch and roll attitudes, almost exactly in the manner of the similar-format, rocket powered Messerschmitt Me 163 of Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe. Some aerodynamicists had proposed that eliminating the horizontal tail would also...
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The X-4 Bantam was a prototype small twin-jet airplane in 1948, manufactured by Northrop. It had no horizontal tail surfaces, depending instead on combined elevator and aileron control surfaces (called elevons) for control in pitch and roll attitudes, almost exactly in the manner of the similar-format, rocket powered Messerschmitt Me 163 of Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe. Some aerodynamicists had proposed that eliminating the horizontal tail would also do away with stability problems at fast speeds resulting from the interaction of supersonic shock waves from the wings and the horizontal stabilizers. The idea had merit but the flight control systems of that time prevented the X-4 from any success.
Two X-4s were built by the Northrop Corporation, but the first was found to be mechanically unsound and after 10 flights it was grounded and used to provide parts for the second.
While being tested from 1950 to 1953 at the NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station (now Edwards Air Force Base), the X...
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