20 April 2009

On both the Northrop XB-35 and YB-49 flying wing bombers, the pilot sat in an elevated position offset to the left using a bubble canopy. The co-pilot sat lower on the right inside the wing and looked forward through windows in the leading edge of the wing just to the right of the center. On the XB-35, there was a single set of throttles with four levers and on the YB-49 there was also a single set of throttles, but with two levers- one for the three jet engines in each wing.

Unfortunately, only the pilot could use the throttles as they were out of reach for the co-pilot who sat in the lower position in the wing. That meant that the co-pilot could neither takeoff or land the large flying wing bombers.

Source: Northrop Flying Wings: A History of Jack Northrop's Visionary Aircraft by Garry R. Pape with John M. Campbell. Schiffer Publishing, 1995, p156.

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