John Knudsen Northrop

Infobox Person
name =John Northrop


image_size =200px
caption =John Northrop, 1895-1981
birth_date =10 November 1895
birth_place =Newark, New Jersey
death_date =18 February 1981
death_place =
occupation =Aeronautics Engineer
Industrial Designer
spouse =
parents =
stepchildren =

John Knudsen "Jack" Northrop (November 10, 1895 – February 18, 1981) was an American aircraft industrialist. He co-founded the Lockheed Corporation in 1927. He was the founder and eponym of the Northrop Corporation in 1939.

Entering aviation

Northrop's first job in aviation was in working for Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company (later Lockheed Corporation) in 1916. In 1923, Northrop joined Douglas Aircraft Company. He became chief engineer, but later rejoined Lockheed — now renamed Lockheed. During his second tenure there, he worked on the Lockheed Vega, the civilian transport flown by Amelia Earhart. [National Aviation Hall of Fame, [http://nationalaviation.blade6.donet.com/components/content_manager_v02/view_nahf/htdocs/menu_ps.asp?NodeID=1678043477&group_ID=1134656385&Parent_ID=-1 NAHF: John Northrop, Biography] , accessed May 2, 2007.]

Company founding

In 1928, Northrop struck out on his own, founding the Avion Corporation, which Northrop was forced to sell to United Aircraft and Transport Corporation in 1930. In 1932, Northrop, backed by Donald Douglas of Douglas Aircraft, founded another company, the Northrop Corporation, in El Segundo, California. This company built two highly successful monoplanes, the Northrop Gamma and Northrop Delta. [ [http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/northrop.html Jack Northrop (1895-1981)] , accessed May 2, 2007.]

By 1939, the Northrop Corporation had become a subsidiary of Douglas, so Northrop founded another completely independent company of the same name in Hawthorne, California, a site located by Moye Stephens, one of the co-founders. While working at this company, Northrop focused on the flying wing design, which he was convinced was the next major step in aircraft design. He produced a number of flying wings, including the Northrop N-1M, Northrop N-9M, Northrop YB-35, and Northrop YB-49. Shortly before his death in 1981 he was given clearance to see designs and a scale model of the B-2 Spirit which shared many of the design features as his YB-35 and YB-49 designs.

Awards

In 1947 he received the Spirit of St. Louis Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for "meritorious service in the advancement of aeronautics." [ [http://www.asme.org/Governance/Honors/SocietyAwards/Spirit_St_Louis_Medal.cfm ASME: Spirit of St. Louis Medal] , accessed March 5, 2008.] Investiture in the International Aerospace Hall of Fame came in 1972 and in the Aviation Hall of Fame in 1974. The B-2 Spirit stealth bomber has the same wingspan as Jack Northrop's jet-powered flying wing, the YB-49. [ [http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/Engineering_Graphics/_EG2000/flyingwing/history/jack.html Jack Northrop] , accessed May 2, 2007.]

References