Dec 152008
No other data than this one drawing. Dated 8-2-51, this shows a four-engined tailless interceptor or ground attacker featuring a prone pilot disturbingly ringed by unguided rockets. Firing these at night would almost certainly temporarily blind the pilot.
UPDATE: From a trusted source… “I talked to an old friend that worked at Northrop forever, and he talked to a couple of even older friends who actually worked with Dick Teague (who drew the Stinger drawing), and they all feel it was a “doodle” and not a real project.”
5 Responses to “Northrop “Stinger””
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Scott,
No idea. New one on me. Interesting intake design as well.
Jay
The inlets look like those of the B-36/B-47… just stretched out to a fairly ridiculous degree.
The prone pilot in the glass nose looks like something the French Leduc company would come up with. The lack of radar isn’t going to help this design’s combat potential any.
You just _know_ that the nose is a escape capsule, don’t you?
This is the influence of the crazy ex-Luftwaffe designers hitting the world’s aircraft industry after the war.
Pat,
Oh, I don’t think it took ex-Luftwaffe designers to get Northrop coming up with prone pilot designs.
Can you say MX-324?
Madoc
You don’t need Germans to produce wacky designs. American drawing boards were as full of unconventional designs as the anybody, but there’s one crucial difference: the Germans *lost.* As a result, American SECRET PROJECTS got to *stay* secret. German secrets were published in every form imaginable.