Cranfield make Boeing's planes .... outsourcing yet again ?

Cranfield Aerospace have secured a prestigious contract to to provide the ground-control station, to pilot Blended Wing Body X-48B for Boeing during flight research testing as well as two 8.5% scale X-48B prototypes were built for Boeing Phantom Works by Cranfield Aerospace Ltd., in the United Kingdom in accordance with Boeing requirements and specifications - and looking like somethingout of Star Wars by Dan Dare. Kathy Barnstorff of NASA at Langley invited me to go along today to witness some wind tunnel tests, but I couldn't make it. Sorry Kathy.

Made of advanced lightweight composite materials, the prototypes weigh about 400 pounds each and are powered by three turbojet engines (Williams International Corporation, Walled Lake, Mich., ), they will be capable of flying up to 120 knots and at 10,000 feet during flight testing.

NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, the Phantom Works organization of Boeing is developing and exploring further with models to validate the structural, aerodynamic and operational advantages of a futuristic aircraft design called the blended wing body, or BWB.

Two high-fidelity, 21-foot wingspan prototypes of the BWB concept have been designed and produced for wind tunnel and flight testing this year - the ones made by Cranfield.

The futuristic airframe is a unique merger of efficient high-lift wings and a wide airfoil-shaped body, causing the entire aircraft to generate lift and minimize drag, thereby increasing fuel economy. Passenger and cargo areas are located within the center body portion of the aircraft.They are called X-48B because the USAF thought it sounded "Top Gun", on the principle that all PC's in the late 707's had to have a Z in the name.

X-48B Ship No. 1 began wind tunnel testing on April 7 at the Langley Full-Scale Tunnel at NASA's Langley Research Center (used by Orville Wright, Howard Hughes and Charles Lindbergh). When testing is completed in early May, it will be shipped to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California to serve as a backup to Ship No. 2, which will be used for flight testing later this year. According to the team, both phases of testing are focused on learning more about the low-speed flight-control characteristics of the BWB concept."

It is claimed that a large commercial BWB aircraft could be developed to carry 800 or more passengers (just like the Airbus 380) but present ideas focus on vehicles in the 450-passenger class. Because of its efficient configuration, the BWB would consume 20 % less fuel than current aircraft today, while cruising at high subsonic speeds on flights of up to 7,000 nautical miles and operate from existing airport terminals. (Just like the Airbus 380)

"We believe the BWB concept has the potential to cost effectively fill many roles required by the Air Force, such as tanking, weapons carriage, and command and control," said Capt. Scott Bjorge, AFRL X-48B program manager.

NASA also is committed to advancing the BWB concept. NASA and its partners have tested six different blended wing body models of various sizes over the last decade in four wind tunnels at the Langley Research Center.

"One big difference between this airplane and the traditional tube and wing aircraft is that -- instead of a conventional tail -- the blended wing body relies solely on multiple control surfaces on the wing for stability and control," said Dan Vicroy, NASA senior research engineer at the Langley Research Center. "What we want to do with this wind-tunnel test is to look at how these surfaces can be best used to maneuver the aircraft."

Keil Kraft used to make a balsa wood kit of a glider called the Condor which looked remarkably like the X-48B and was a bugger to balance and fly, it looked very very futuristic though ... well it did over 50 years ago to a schoolboy in Manchester UK.