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Northrop's flying-wing airliner

As early as 1948, Jack Northrop hoped to adapt his Flying Wing bomber as the world's sleekest airliner. Remember that in those days the concept of mass air transportation was some years in the future: everyone figured that only the rich or highly valued employees would be traveling by air. So the concept of an 80-passenger transport wasn't as far-fetched as it would seem today.

The big sell was the "window seating" with passengers lined up as if at a theater. Since this was only a mockup, not an actual aircraft, the marketing department was hard put to show the splendid view that the passengers were to enjoy. So it gave them a fellow passenger's rump: