Wouldn't Jack Northrop be pleased?

Boeing produced that design in 2006. It has returned to newspaper headlines today because the Air Force is looking for a successor to its C-17 Globemaster and its gigantic C-5M Super Galaxy, both of which were designed with a European conflict in mind. Now that China has replaced Russia as the rising superpower -- the "pacing threat," as strategists delicately put it -- distances have become more vast than they were in 1970, when the C-17 entered service.

"A wing-body offers more interior space to carry supplies and fuel," the WSJ explains, "and, with new engines being designed, would provide the range to operate across the Pacific." Jack Northrop couldn't have said it better.

Diary of a Bomber Pilot

Glen Edwards: The Diary of a Bomber Pilot is mostly told in his own words, taken from the diary he kept from his first day as an aviation cadet to the day before he died in the fiery crash of the Northrop YB-49. As co-author, I introduce the man, bridge the gaps in his diary, and explain the virtues and the drawbacks of the planes he flies, whether as a bomber pilot in the North Africa desert or as an Air Force test pilot at Wright Field and Muroc -- now known as Edwards Air Force Base.

The flying wing + nurflügel files: