NORTHROP

Northrop Corporation, founded by Jack Northrop in 1939, was an American aerospace manufacturer until its merger with Grumman in 1994. The company is well-known for its development of the flying wing design, most notably the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. Northrop Corporation produced several successful designs, including the Northrop Gamma and Northrop Delta, before it was dissolved by Douglas in 1937 due to labor difficulties. To establish his own company, Northrop founded the Northrop Corporation in Hawthorne, California in 1939. The corporation developed and built various aircraft, such as the P-61 Black Widow night fighter, the B-35 and YB-49 experimental flying wing bombers, the F-89 Scorpion interceptor, the SM-62 Snark intercontinental cruise missile, and the F-5 Freedom Fighter economical jet fighter (and its derivative, the successful T-38 Talon trainer). The success of the F-5 led Northrop to attempt to duplicate its success with similar lightweight designs, such as the N-300 and P-530, which eventually became the YF-17 Cobra.