The gist of it was that while the existence of B-2 was still classified, Northrup management brought Jack Northrup, long since retired and given title as Chairman Emeritus or some such, into a conference room for a special briefing.

Without showing any pictures the Northrup people explained to him that they were building a new bomber for the Air Force with some interesting capabilities. The SPO had sent an officer who briefed Jack on the requirements.

There was a box sitting on the table. When the briefing was finished they told him they had a model of the new aircraft, and they lifted the box showing the B-2. If I recall correctly, Jack shed some tears when he saw that his design had finally gone into production.

Great work Bryan. Thanks for all you do.

The jet engine-powered YB-49 had four vertical fins, which extended both above and below the trailing edge of the wing. Please see TDiA for 21 October 1947 at: https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/21-october-1947/

Thank you. I have updated the caption and the text.

. . . or maybe not: The prototype of the Horten Ho 229, the H.IX V1 glider, made its first flight 1 March 1944. BUT Jack Northrop’s twin-engine N-1M made its first flight almost 4 years earlier, 3 July 1940. Northrop had first started experimenting with the twin-boom X-216H “Flight Wing” in 1929, while the Horten brothers’ started working on their H.IV in 1941. So, TDiA believes that the YB-49 is a direct descendant of Jack Northrop’s own designs.