John K. Northrop

For more than twenty years, Northrop researched an all-wing plane with an all-metal construction. He came up with a radical design that enveloped the fuselage and tail within the wings. Though he found some success with the "Flying Wing" in the late 1940's, the flying wing bomber design did not reach production until the1990's with the design of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.

As a designer for such well-known aviation developers as Douglas and Lockheed, John Northrop created more than 48 different aircraft throughout his career. These designs included such aircraft as the Vega, a one-engine plane with an all-metal molded monocoque (single-shell fuselage) and internal-braced wing that set the standard for clean design; and the Alpha, one of the first modern low-wing all metal airplanes for commercial application. Northrop then went on to design the Beta, Gamma and Delta commercial planes and later converted the Alpha into the Army A-17 and A-17A and Navy BT-1 bomber (the forerunner of the Douglas Dauntless).

Far Electrograph Ultraviolet Camera
Satellite Servicing Techniques
Hydroaeroplane
Space Capsule Design
Retractable Landing Gear; Folding Wing
Rotor Control Mechanism for Rotary Aircraft
Altimeter
Link Trainer/Simulator
Ethyl Gasoline
Flying Wing plane; All-Metal High-Wing Monocoque Airplane (Vega)
Communications Satellite
Spin Stabilized Synchronous Communications Satellite
Turbo Jet
Jet Engine
Supercritical Wing
Small Fan-Jet Engine
Aircraft Propulsion System - Jet Engine