Northrop manufactured two airframes. They flew a total of 90 flights between 1948-1953. In a joint program with the Air Force and Northrop, the NACA conducted most of the flights in this semi-tailless aircraft (which had no horizontal stabilizer).
Northrop manufactured two airframes. They flew a total of 90 flights between 1948-1953. In a joint program with the Air Force and Northrop, the NACA conducted most of the flights in this semi-tailless aircraft (which had no horizontal stabilizer). Powered by two turbojet engines and featuring swept wings, the X-4 helped demonstrate that tail surfaces are important for proper control effectiveness but that a properly configured semi- tailless airplane was a viable platform for research on dynamic stability and also provided data (from tufts) on airflow anomalies.