XP-79 – The Flying Chainsaw

this video is sponsored by magellan tv during world war ii the race for being the most technologically innovative country was more important than ever particularly in aviation as entirely new air forces were built from the ground up almost a million aircraft were produced worldwide for warfare and even though the united states joined the war later than most of the other technologically advanced countries they didn't want to be left behind to keep up with wild new technologies such as jet power and flying wings they wanted to design something that never been seen before the xp-79 was at a time thought to be the answer the xp-79 was the first jet-powered aircraft in the united states its purpose was to attack enemy bombers at unusually high speeds by ramming into them without suffering any damage itself its unique shape and strong magnesium covered armor would allow it to slice off the tails and wings from enemy aircraft it was nicknamed the flying chainsaw the crucial battle for air superiority during world war ii saw the secret development of many new aviation technologies but it would ultimately be brute bombing force that would pound germany into submission learn more about the royal air force's bomber command and the magellan tv documentary bomber boys join ewan mcgregor and his aviator brother colin mcgregor as they tell the story of the most dangerous task faced by any british servicemen during the war watch today and visit tri dot magellan tv.com dark skies or click the link in the description below to get a free one month trial of magellan tv magellan tv is a new type of streaming service that features over 2000 premium documentaries new programs like bomber boys tell secret and forgotten stories from history and more are added on a weekly basis enjoy streaming across your computer tv phone and tablet with no ads and without interruption support dark skies and check out magellan tv with your one month free trial click the link in the description below or visit tri dot magellan tv.com dark skies today the beginning in the late stages of world war ii just as the odds were starting to favor the allied forces american bomber formations in europe were frequently attacked by a new german rocket-powered jet the messerschmitt me-163 comet and even though these small jets brought plenty of show and theatrics to aerial combat they weren't very effective still the american public marveled at the design and technology of these inventions and wondered when they would get a small fighter jet of their own what they didn't know was that the us army air force was already working with northrop corporation on a project of just that magnitude the northrop xp79 was the brainchild of this ambitious project jack northrup who was one of america's most innovative aircraft designers intended for it to ram into enemy bombers and split them open to achieve this the pilot had to lie down in a prone position similar to that of a glider because of this it was known as the flying chainsaw jack northrop jack northrop was always interested in aviation beginning with his first job in the field at age 21 as a draftsman for lockheed aircraft manufacturing company he was also one of the leading designers of the douglas round the world cruiser in 1923 when he worked at the douglas aircraft company in 1927 he rejoined the lockheed brothers who by then had changed their company name to lockheed aircraft company where he collaborated as chief engineer on the lockheed vega a civilian transport monoplane with unusually high performance for that time it was internationally known and was used by top pilots such as amelia earhart wiley post and hubert wilkins at age 34 northwest ventured out on his own and founded the avion company he later sold to the united aircraft and transport corporation in 1930 and renamed the company to northrop aircraft corporation northrop founded northrop co in 1932 as a subsidiary of douglas his previous employer there he worked as chief engineer and he helped design the a17 attack plane for the air corps as well as the bt-1 bomber for the navy during the great depression he then formed northrop aircraft incorporated in 1939 when world war ii had just begun and built the first successful n1m flying wing and the xp-56 flying wing fighter he also engineered the jb-10 flying bomb the p-61 black widow knight fighter and the xp-79 flying wing fighter northrop designed numerous and advanced conventional aircraft but his true passion was for flying wing designs he believed that such a jet with a single airfoil surface would have the most effective lifting capabilities the lack of a fuselage and tail units would mean less drag to affect overall performance and lower production costs in his mind it was a win-win mx334 and mx-324 in 1942 jack northrup proved himself to be well ahead of his fellow american competitors and previous employers when his flying wing concept took a dramatic step forward he convinced the united states army air forces that he could build a flying wing fighter jet that could fly faster than the speed of sound the usaf showed interest and offered him a contract for two prototypes northrop's program began in 1943 with the code name project 12 as its aircraft designation it would have to be developed for the utmost secrecy as spying eyes could steal the advanced technology their plan was a rocket-powered flying wing designed with a total wingspan of only 32 feet to fly it the pilot would have to lie down in a prone position this was believed to allow the pilot to tolerate more in the way of g-forces sustained during high-speed maneuvers it would also be less likely to be spotted by enemy radars a flight mission was not for the faint of heart experts believe that since the fighter's layout was so revolutionary and new test bladder prototypes had to be built to verify the validity of the concept northrop designated this part of the program ns12 the army air force gave the glider their own name the mx-334 perhaps confusingly during the testing period the later powered version would be named out of sequence and would be referred to as the mx324 the powered mx324 was first tested on october 2nd 1943 it had a tricycle undercarriage which ensured a level 4 when the aircraft was at rest the power plants were designed to be placed deep into the fuselage aft its aerojet rocket engines had been delayed in a problematic development cycle which would later haunt the company's involvement in the program engineered an aerojet rushed development to produce the excal 200 rocket motor which was fueled by monoethylaniline and nitric acid the rocket fuel burned quickly and a flight time of just under four minutes was estimated although the performance wouldn't be enough for a production model the rockets proved useful for testing purposes the mx-324 flew under its own power on june 23 1944 making it the united states first rocket-powered aircraft xp-79 to the mx324s development was the northrop xp79 this mod was of greater military value as it was designed to compete with the german messerschmitt me-163 comet originally just as with the mx-324 it was to be rocket-powered and it also required a pilot lying prone in the cockpit the xp-79 was to be able to reach speeds of 500 miles an hour and the cabin would be pressurized to ensure the pilot's survival up to 40 thousand feet in altitude in contrast with authentic flying wings the xp-79 design had a large swept wing surface paired with vertical tail fins the rear for extra stabilization and maneuverability aerojet was never able to overcome the limitations of the x-cal 200 rocket tested with the mx-324 instead westinghouse was chosen to deliver a pair of all-new turbo jet engines each of these 19 bees would generate 1150 pounds of thrust the cockpit was at the center of the triangle's apex and straddled on either side by twin intakes to aspirate the twin engines the undercarriage had four landing gear legs and a quad arrangement instead of the more conventional three-legged form the flying ram slash chainsaw the armed force's most fundamental requirement for this project was that the new flying one would be able to ram into enemy bombers the germans had aircraft utilizing similar concepts already in battle even though these yielded mixed results america wanted the tactic in their arsenal as well it was an approach that by modern standards now sounds delusional after the testing period finished the xp-79 was supposed to fly out from nearby allied air bases against incoming enemy bombers it would launch quickly due to the use of jet fuel assisted takeoffs or jado and reach peak altitude in minutes no armament was intended for this design the xp-79s body would be covered in heavy-gauge magnesium armor plating to mitigate damage while ramming into enemy aircraft the xp-79's pilot was expected to make high-speed passes through enemy formations using the reinforced wing edges to slice through the frame of the enemy bombers it would move so fast that enemy gunners wouldn't be able to target and fire so the pilot would face little danger furthermore the pilot would protect his head with bulletproof glass in the cockpit however by 1945 the xp-79 was being readied for a kind of battle that no longer existed fears of hitler's bombers reached their greatest heights in the battle of britain but further luftwaffe bombing formations never materialized in the mid to late war years as the prospect of facing off against wave after wave of german bombers subsided the xb79's mission profile became a moot point [Music] xp 79b the first flyable xp-79 the xp-79b was painted white and was given the serial number 43-3524 it was trucked to the murak dry lake testing facility in preparation for its first flight its first ominous taxiing test were conducted in june 1945 during which all of its tires burst on at least several occasions the flying chainsaw later actually had only one flight test which lasted less than half an hour and ended with disastrous consequences on september 12th 1945 distinguished test pilot harry crosby got on the jet lay down and prepared to take it for its maiden flight he immediately ran into setbacks before he even got off the ground as crosby accelerated down the runway an army fire truck drove directly into its path he was able to chop the throttle and reapplied power once the truck was out of his way crosby reached ten thousand feet after takeoff and for the next 15 minutes he flew around the testing field examining the xp79's ability to turn suddenly everything that could go wrong did and in just one turn the pilot and the flying ram went into a nose-down spin he tried to regain control but it was impossible crosby jumped out the plane's escape hatch but he was struck by the wing and he was unable to open his parachute the xp-79 crashed into the desert floor and exploded in a white-hot flare a color and flame that only magnesium creates the flying chainsaw was no more northrop and his engineers determined that the xp-79s control problem could be fixed for the next test still the us air force didn't want to risk any further disasters so they decided to abandon the project world war ii was over anyways and more conventional jet designs were already entering production the techniques used to create the xp 79 however aided in the development of other future projects northwest obsession with flying wing designs finally came true when he developed his p-35 and b-49 bombers thanks for watching and thanks again to magellan tv for sponsoring this video and for offering a free one-month trial to dark skies viewers please visit try.magellantv.com skies or click the link in the description below for access to more than 2 000 documentaries streaming across all your devices without interruption you

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Views: 824,433

Rating: 4.7982731 out of 5

Keywords: aviation, airplane, aircraft, jet, jets, airplanes, documentary, history, history channel, history documentary, planes, military aircraft, air force, us air force, usaf, flight, documentaries, defence, short documentary, military, northrop, xp79, xp 79, xp-79, flying wing

Id: uFBqNBvY-9A

Length: 11min 16sec (676 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 19 2020