Northrop JB-1 Bat

The prototype Bat glider

The Northrop JB-1A "Bat" or "Thunderbug" was a prototype "jet bomb" – in effect, a surface-to-surface cruise missile – developed in the United States during World War II.[1] The JB-1A was also an early jet aircraft aircraft, with a radical flying wing planform.

In August 1942, a Fieseler Fi 103, code name Flakzielgerät-43 (FGZ-43) – the piloted prototype of the German V1 flying bomb – crashed on the Danish island of Bornholm. While the island was under German occupation, Danish witnesses were able to forward extensive, detailed descriptions of the Fi 103 to the Allied intelligence services. This led to a US effort in 1943 to develop an equivalent weapon.[2]

Northrop had already been contracted under Project MX-334 for a small rocket propelled flying wing aircraft, and the two projects were combined. The MX-334 first flew, as a glider, on 9 November 1943. Northrop was formally contracted for a jet bomb version, the MX-543, on 1 July 1944, shortly after the Germans began their V-1 campaign against England.[3] The MX-334 flew under rocket power on 5 July.[4]

Progress on the MX-543 was rapid, because much of the design work and plans were picked up directly from work on MX-334.[3] The first JB-1 was built as a manned glider to test the flight characteristics of the vehicle at lower speeds.[5] This was a typical approach by Northrop due to its lack of a wind tunnel. The first flight of the JB-1 glider was piloted by Harry Crosby on 27 August 1944.

A prospective engine, the General Electric B-1, emerged – a result of a unrelated project to convert a B-31 turbosupercharger into a small turbojet. The chief designer was GE testing manager Gene Stoeckly. (Because his parents were foreign nationals, Stoeckly had been prohibited from working on a parallel, secret project to adapt the British Power Jets W.1 engine for American production as the GE 1-A, which was developed into the I-16.[6]) After a potential customer in the form of Northrop expressed a desire for a small turbojet, development was handed off to Russ Hall and Marty Hemsworth who managed to turn the bootstrap project into ostensibly flight worthy hardware.[7]

The JB-1A, equipped with two GE B-1 engines, was ready for testing in early December 1944 at Range 64, Sana Rosa Island, Florida.[7] On 7 December 1944, it was launched and promptly stalled and crashed.[8] The stall was attributed to an improper elevon setting compounded by a failure of one of the GE B-1 turbojets.[9][10] The Army Air Forces Report on the failure stated "Flight failure was primarily attributted to improper setting of the bombs control surfaces prior to launching, but damage to the right turbo-jet engine approximately 30 seconds before take-off would not have permitted successful flight."[11] The Northrop JB-1 suffered from numerous production and structural complexities as well as being overweight. The problem of persistent turbine failures coupled with the J-1s low thrust had already caused Northrop to seek another powerplant, the Ford pulse jet as used on the JB-2.[5] That change coupled with the need to reduce the cost of manufacturing the JB-1A led to the development of the JB-10.[12]

In June 1996, the Western Museum of Flight restored the manned JB-1 glider.[13]

  1. ^ Carpenter & D'Alessandro 1997, p. 5.
  2. ^ Wolf 2021, p. 288.
  3. ^ a b Pape & Campbell 1995, p. 103.
  4. ^ Pape & Campbell 1995, p. 107.
  5. ^ a b Pape & Campbell 1995, p. 105.
  6. ^ Carpenter & D'Alessandro 1997, p. 10.
  7. ^ a b Carpenter & D'Alessandro 1997, p. 12.
  8. ^ Quigg 2014, p. 53.
  9. ^ Wolf 2021, p. 293.
  10. ^ Werrell 1985, p. 69.
  11. ^ Carpenter & D'Alessandro 1997, p. 46.
  12. ^ Carpenter & D'Alessandro 1997, p. 15.
  13. ^ "Northrop JB-1 "Bat" (MX-543)". Western Museum of Flight. Retrieved 2 October 2024.