XP-79 Flying Ram

The Northrop XP-79 "Flying Ram" was an ambitious American design for a flying wing fighter aircraft; it had several notable design features. Among these, the pilot would operate the aircraft from a prone position—permitting the pilot to withstand much greater g-forces—and welded magnesium monocoque structure instead of riveted aluminum. In 1942, John K. Northrop conceived the XP-79 as a high-speed rocket powered flying wing fighter aircraft. In J... more

The Northrop XP-79 "Flying Ram" was an ambitious American design for a flying wing fighter aircraft; it had several notable design features. Among these, the pilot would operate the aircraft from a prone position—permitting the pilot to withstand much greater g-forces—and welded magnesium monocoque structure instead of riveted aluminum. In 1942, John K. Northrop conceived the XP-79 as a high-speed rocket powered flying wing fighter aircraft. In January 1943, a contract for three prototypes designation XP-79 was issued by the USAAF. To test the radical design, glider prototypes were built. One designated MX-324 was towed into the air on 5 July 1944 by a P-38 making it the first rocket-powered aircraft built by America to fly. Originally, it was planned to use a 2,000 lbf (9 kN) thrust XCALR-2000A-1 "rotojet" rocket motor supplied by Aerojet that used monoethyl aniline and red fuming nitric acid; because of the corrosive and toxic nature of the liquids, the XP-79 was built using a... less