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(CNN) – We all know that an airplane can not fly without wings – but can wings fly without a body?
A new fuselage-free "flying wing" prototype has proved that he is capable of it and made his world debut at the AERO Friedrichshafen air show in Germany on April 11th.
The Horten HX-2 light aircraft has been in development for three years and is currently undergoing flight tests.
Its wingspan is 10 meters, with its tips up, but its tiny two-seater cabin is only two meters long.
Bernhard Mattlener, General Manager of Horten Aircraft, part of the LIFT Air group, said that "because of its low aerodynamic drag, the flying wing flies farther and faster than a plane." comparable aircraft equipped with a fuselage.
"The design of the cell makes it easily adaptable to the installation of new propulsion technologies, which should be available in the future," he added.
Historical design
As strange as it is on the HX-2, the concept of flying wing is almost as old as the aviation itself.
Hugo Junkers patented his concept of flying wing "nurflügel" in 1910 and the name of Horten Aircraft refers to the German aeronautical designer Ing Reimar Horten, pioneer in the field.
Horten and her brother Walter designed the world's first flying wing, Horten Ho 229, towards the end of the Second World War. The plane is sometimes called "Hitler stealth fighter".
It was a prototype fighter / bomber and its low-drag flying wing design responded to a call by Hermann Göring, the Luftwaffe's Commander-in-Chief, for a machine capable of satisfying the kilos of bombs over a distance of 1,000 kilometers with a speed of 1,000 kilometers per hour.
He did not meet these requirements, but it was the only design to be close.
The old meets the new
Horten Aircraft says its machines are based on Reimar Horten's original revolutionary multi-wing concept, while incorporating the new combined-wing body technology.
It is powered by a Rotax 912 engine with two 120-liter fuel tanks and is made from carbon / fiberglbad materials.
It is a propeller "pusher" plane, which means that the propeller pushes the plane forward instead of pulling it in the air .
The prototype was built by Horten Aircraft at its headquarters located near Eisenach, in central Germany.
The public will have a first glimpse of craftsmanship at the AERO Friedrichshafen, on the shoes of Lake Constance, in southern Germany, until April 13th.
Horten Aircraft's future projects include unmanned or multi-seat versions of the current prototype.
Bernhard Mattlener told CNN Travel: "We are overwhelmed by the positive reaction and we find such support in this idea. [have] hit a nerve market.
"Aviation is moving more and more towards alternative propulsion systems.The flying wing aircraft is an ideal platform for future technology."
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