1947. YB-49 heads for Muroc and army flight tests

 

The world's only jet propelled flying wing bomber yet to take the air, the YB-49 trails smoke from its eight GE J-35 engines as it leaves Northrop Field, Hawthorne, Calif., on its first flight. The huge plane was flown to Muroc Army Base by Max Stanley, Northrop test pilot, who declared later that the craft landed in flyaway condition and could have been taken up again immediately, without the ground reworking to iron out the "bugs" that usually appear after a first flight. 

------------------

Aviation Week | November 3, 1947