The XP-56, also known as the Black Bullet, was a tailless design, not a
trueflying wing. It featured vertical surfacesand a conventional cockpit/fuselage.
The XP-56 competed against theConsolidated-Vultee XP-54
and theCurtiss XP-55 Ascender, both of which were also pusher type designs,
the Ascender also being one of the few canard designs of the war. All three
planes were to use the same engine, the newly developed liquid- cooled Pratt
& Whitney
X-1800-A3G, but the cancellation of this engine project forced the developers
to use alternate engines. Northrop chose the Pratt & Whitney R-2280-29
air-cooled Double Wasp.
The XP-56 had several unique features. It was the first all-magnesium,
all welded airframe, it used
contra-rotating propellers in a pusher configuration (guaranteed to dice
an escaping pilot into little bits, so
an explosive charge was installed to blow the entire aft portion of the airplane
off during bailout), the
second model used air-activated bellows rudders.
The first XP-56 made its maiden flight on September 6, 1943, and flew at
an altitude of four feet and a
speed of 140 mph. The flights of that first day revealed directional control
deficiencies, due to the small
amount of vertical surface. The upper vertical surface was increased in size,
and flights resumed on
October 8.
Near tragedy struck when, as pilot John Meyers phrased it, "The aircraft
wanted to fly upside and
backwards, and finally did!". This occurred while taxiing at high speed and
having the left main tire blow
out at approximately 130 mph. The plane somersaulted across the desert, during
one flip, it actually rose to
75 feet above the desert floor, and the pilot was flung clear. Meyers was
lucky and sustained only minor
injuries.
The second XP-56 first flew from Roach Lake on March 23, 1944, reaching
2500 feet. It flew a total of
10 flights, during which stability and control problems were experienced.
Given the problems with the design, and the advent of the jet age, even
John Northrop agreed that, "I think
it was a bust."
The second XP-56 was sent to the National Air & Space Museum, and in
1982, it was transferred to the
Northrop Corporation for future restoration.