Piglet and Pam's Northrop XB-35.zip
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Thread: Piglet and Pam's Northrop XB-35.zip

  1. #1
    SOH-CM-2021 warchild's Avatar
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    Piglet and Pam's Northrop XB-35.zip


    A new entry has been added to Add-Ons Library, category FSX Military Props

    Description: When Piglet first asked me to do the flight model on this aircraft, i don't think either of us had any idea that it would be his last.. I've sat on it, all thees years, silently waiting and hoping for his eventual return. There are no gauges, no interior textures, and no doggie bag. I like Piglet, put my heart into this. Since I'm not gone I ask that you kindly not make any changes to my aircraft.cfg or airfile. Let me know what you think needs changing and I'll be happy to make the changes if they fit within the actual vehicle. After all, just because we numbers people don't work with the visual model, doesn't mean we dont put as much into it as a modeler does.. I appreciate your understanding..

    Jack Northrop's vision for the flying wing was a fleet of these things flying around the globe carrying happy passengers too their destinations. The wing was efficient in every way imaginable and cost saving in ways no other plane could ever hope too achieve, but to realize his dream, he needed funding, and the airforce though skeptical, came to his rescue. The Air Force needed a fast inter-continental bomber capable of delivering a nuclear weapon over a ten thousand mile radius. The wing could do that. However, the Norden bomb sights used at the time, demanded that the bomber be stable as a rock in order for it to hit its target. The wing searches side to side constantly, so the Air Force trashed it, but kept interest enough to have Northrop build the YB-49 Jet Bomber. Both aircraft were found unsuitable however and subsequently scrapped along with Jac'ks dream, till nineteen eighty seven when plans were laid down by the Air Force for the new B-2 flying wing.

    To check it out, rate it or add comments, visit Piglet and Pam's Northrop XB-35.zip
    The comments you make there will appear in the posts below.

  2. #2
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    Hi Pam. Just saw this hit the home page today and as I am a fan of the aircraft I couldn't resist taking it out. Hop was from DFW to Hurlburt Field, FL. Thanks for the inclusion of the test panel, I never saw it before today and though I didn't understand a lot of what was in it, I COULD pick out what would help me fly this bird. If you are in any turbulence it's a handful, the autopilot helps a lot but there's still wobblin' and bobblin'. I know this is an alpha release, so am not sure if it's got a finished .AIR file, but no matter - since the aircraft is pure lifting surface and has no drag-producing fuselage, low power settings (28-30 in MAP) and 2000-2150RPM produce over 350 KIAS/452 knots GS at 21,000 ft. WOW! Flies with about 5 - 6 degrees nose-down attitude, held this until I was back to about 185 KIAS when the nose started to level out some but still flew a little nose low right onto the runway. With flaps at first notch, power/prop pitch set to hold about 145 KIAS it was easy to hold a descent rate of about 350-400 FPM. However, as was described, lateral stability was severely wanting and the landing approach was basically a series of very s-l-o-w sways to port and starboard that with rudder input and minor power adjustments could be compensated for. Flare was not excessive and the airplane sat down gently but firmly on the runway. Touched down at about 115-120 KIAS, I kept the speed up because of the thing's being "shifty" on approach. Any quartering tailwind will cause the aircraft to dip the "upwind" wingtip into the wind, producing a permanent list I could trim for but which would require some quick adjustments if changing course.

    A challenge to fly - but not overwhelmingly so. Thanks for doing what you did to get it where it is!

  3. #3
    Just took it for a few T&Gs at Oshkosh. It takes a while to get used to the adverse yaw this displays. Kept adding too much rudder then trying to correct with not enough. Got some nice yaw swings going! One thing this plane needs (don't know if they used one in real life like the He-111 did) is a lubber line. The view out the canopy is very wonky with the angles of the leading edge of the wing and the top edge of the instrument panel at odds with each other and not giving a good visual reference on how you are lined up! After a while I got the hang of it and it seems to fly by the numbers. I was hanging 160 in the pattern, 120 over the fence and touching down between 110 and 105 with about a 7 degree flare. Got to the point where I could keep it south of 20th Ave to the north, just inside Hwy 41 to the east and just north of Hwy N to the south. (I did two T&Gs from the co-pilot's position, not such a great view from there!) Two things I did notice were that changes to prop settings caused a pitch up or down depending on which way you were going with the RPMs. Also, the test panel indicated the decelerons were opening (verified by a reduction in airspeed) but no animation for them. Is there a limitation in the sim where you can have them split differentially as rudders or together as speed brakes but not both?

  4. #4
    SOH-CM-2024 MrZippy's Avatar
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    I just took a quick test hop out to Edwards in the California desert. It flew rather smoothly at altitude using A/P, but a definite nose-down profile. Landing was a little wobbly, as expected, with a delta wing minus the fuselage. All in all, a good flight

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails wing.jpg   down at Edwards.jpg  
    Charlie Awaiting the new Microsoft Flight Sim and will eventually buy a new computer. Running a Chromebook for now!

  5. #5
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    The rudder animations were set by Tim, and have no separate spoiler animation, so; S.O.L.

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