On 2015-Jun-19, at 9:07 AM, Christian Gauger-Cosgrove wrote: > > Bringing this topic full circle, does anyone know if any minicomputers > (DEC PDP-8s or 11s, DG Novæ, HP 21XXs, et cetera) were ever used on > aircraft? Not transported by one, but I mean setup and used on one.
On 2015-Jun-19, at 12:09 PM, Toby Thain wrote: > On 2015-06-19 3:05 PM, geneb wrote: >> On Fri, 19 Jun 2015, Toby Thain wrote: >>> >>> "in 1949 the Air Force ordered all the flying wings destroyed, all >>> the jigs and tools destroyed, every trace of the flying wing >>> eradicated. A few years later even the engineering drawings were all >>> destroyed by new Northrop management." >>> >> I don't know why they went to those lengths, but it's my understanding >> that the program was cancelled because at the time, the USAAF (USAF?) >> mandated stall testing as part of their development programs. Without >> serious flight control computers, stalling a flying wing just ends up in >> a freshly planted aluminum tree. Even WITH good computers, stalling a >> flying wing is a Bad Idea(tm). AFAIK, the B-2 has never been stalled >> (on purpose), even during development. > > Thanks. I knew there must be more to it... I wonder if the cited book covers > this angle. To tie these two lines of question together (and bring it back very much on-topic), the BINAC (amongst the first stored-program computers, 1949) was supplied to Northrop for research into airborne flight control (quick web search says part of the Snark missile project), I'm not suggesting the BINAC and YB-49 (the flying wing) were connected, but it's interesting they were contemporary projects both at Northrop, and computer control was just what the flying wing needed.
