Northrop - Langt foran andre i 1941

Northrop N-1M on display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Restored to its final flight configuration

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Shape look familiar? This historic video from the US National Archives shows the Northrop Flying Wing (N-1M) being tested over the Mojave Desert in 1941.
Northrop’s first flying “wing” in 1929 was very conservative and did have a small tail. All of Northrop’s designs were intended to be powered and built strong and solid. From the first wing he then built the n1m in 1939 and flew it in 1940. Northrop was against using twist and washout in his wings so many of his had not twist at all. Instead he used wing sweep. Northrop used wing sweep to achieve “acceptable” yaw stability. Also, Northrop used symmetrical airfoils.
Northrop wanted wings to carry huge bomb loads 10,000 miles on a third the cost. And he did. So Northrop did need some vertical tail or surface to get the yaw stability he wanted. The XB-35 prop shaft housings did the job and the YB-49 had little tails. Northrop also did not incorporate any middle effect root chord bat tail or anything.
Last and maybe the most genius is the Northrop Drag Rudders, they were basically clamshell ailerons were one half opened up and the other half down achieving great yaw response. This type of drag rudder is still used in the B-2, X-47B, Phantom Ray, and many wing designs. It’s simple and gets the job done. Northrop’s YB-49 was on record as having a unexpected trait….being difficult to track on radar!