Boeing XB-48 Photos

Heres some nice pics of this prototype. Maybe some here have already seen it in the sky!


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Zindo

Interesting pics ZD.

Is that long tail boom part of test flight instrumentation?

Looks like it would drag on a low speed, nose high landing.

Neat pictures! Submarine hunters have extensions kind of like that plane but I imagine it is to measure flight characteristics rather than submarine detection.

Originally posted by Desert Dawg
Interesting pics ZD.

Is that long tail boom part of test flight instrumentation?

Looks like it would drag on a low speed, nose high landing.

Yes, its to capture the airflow behind the aircraft, to see how much of a disturbance it generates (and therefor allows the designers to design a much more efficient airframe - more disturbance means more drag which means more resistence which means more fuel used).

reply to post by ZindoDoone


Great photos!

One thing I'd like to mention though...

It's the X-48B not the XB-48. It may seem like a distinction without a difference, but an XB-48 would be a prototype bomber for the military while X-48B is just the second model of an experimental craft....

Just wanted to clear that up...great pictures!!

Is there a role that this craft is expected to fulfill...or is it just a technology demonstrator?

reply to post by BomSquad


All planes in the X designation are technology demonstrators. Vast amounts of technology and information has been gained from the X series and then in turn applied to production craft.

Things like Blended wing body, thrust vectoring, laminar-air flow, HARV, hypersonic speed, super sonic speed, etc...

The X-48B will most likely test a possible airframe for a large Blended Wing Body transporter, people or cargo dependent on what Boeing wants to do with it. But I don't think the X-48B will drop directly from experimental to production.

Shattered OUT...

That's Boeing/NASA's BWB demonstrator. It's been flying for years and is an unmanned model (~25ft wingspan?).

Originally posted by HatTrick
That's Boeing/NASA's BWB demonstrator. It's been flying for years and is an unmanned model (~25ft wingspan?).

21 foot wingspan, actually... not that it's important.

Originally posted by intelgurl
21 foot wingspan, actually... not that it's important.

Thanks! I would've looked it up, but was turnin and burnin here at the office.

Blended Wing tech is interesting but I honestly don't think the funding will be available to transition it to a full scale technology.

But it's still way cool man I'd give my right arm to watch that thing fly in person.