Vintage_Flieger Apr 12, 2013 2:23am

er, I'm sure that ol' Jack Northrop would be the first to point out that this aircraft was manufactured by North American Aviation. FWIW, it was designed as a fast-attack nuclear bomber with a unique air-pressurized ejection system that propelled the bomb horizontally out the back at a speed that exactly matched that of the aircraft ... only in the opposite direction! NAA proved time-after-time that this launch sequence caused the bomb to literally pause mid-aire and, then, plunge vertically down to the target! This delivery method was infinitely preferable to the conventional bomb-toss technique that subjected air-frames to excessive G-forces! It also allowed the pilot and crew to more-rapidly 'egress the blast area!' Such was the thinking in the days before ICBM's and MIRV's ... but I digress!

tsistsistas11 Nov 21, 2010 8:10pm

+1. Big carrier bird at the time.