Aircraft Models

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     The XB-49 was one of the most unusual airplanes ever built.  Although not adopted by the Air Force, the basic design was later resurrected and went into production as the B-2 Stealth Bomber.
    The story of this unique aircraft began on September 30, 1942, when the army ordered thirteen YB-35 test aircraft.  It was followed by a production contract for 200 aircraft, but it was soon cancelled because of numerous problems and delays.  Only the first YB-35 was completed and flow.  The advent of the jet age was making propeller-driven aircraft such as the B-35 obsolete.  The USAF decided to authorize modification of two YB-35s by installing eight jet engines. These two aircraft were redesignated YB-49. Another YB-35A was modified with six jet engines and became the YRB-49A.  
     The YB-35 flight test program only lasted a few months in mid-1948. The single flying YB-35 was in storage for about a year before being scrapped in 1949. The derivative YB-49 and YRB-49A programs continued into the late 1940s and early 1950s. Neither of these jet powered flying wing programs was successful and the last aircraft (YRB-49A) was scrapped in November 1953.