Hypersonic Aircraft

 This was a project I did at Northrop while working as a configurator in the advanced design group.  Although there was a team of engineers who  worked on this project,  I was the configurator who designed the  airplane seen here and in the patent.  This airplane took on a life of  its own in cyberspace and in Hollywood.  Google "Northrop Switchblade"  to see all the speculation out there!  This Airplane was used in the  movie "Stealth". Hollywood sure spiffed up the design.  I am sure they  put a lot more effort into it than I did because I remember only having  maybe 3 days to complete the design and drawings for this project.  It  was a simple IRAD study project.  The cover of Popular Science was true  to my patent drawings, the Hollywood version was not so much.
 

This is  the full scale mockup Hollywood built for the movie stealth.  They  started with my patent drawing and their artists really spiffed it up, I  like it!

Click the button for a Google Search of Northrop Switchblade.  This is a nickname created by internet users that has stuck.

Click the button for a pdf file to the full patent