The Army had already decided to adapt its super-bombers to jet propulsion. Consolidated (now called Convair) would hang four turbojets on its B-36, outboard of its piston engines. Northrop's Flying Wing would get an even more radical makeover, its engines replaced by eight turbojets, along with a new designation: the B-49. Because the airframe had proved airworthy, it could go straight into flight test, and with little delay: The first YB-49 was rolled out in October 1947.

"Spewing a twin trail of black smoke, the sky monster swept into the air before the awed thousands gathered to witness the historic take-off," gushed a company press release. Max Stanley was again at the controls, and again it was a delivery flight to Muroc--now the property of the newly independent United States Air Force.