#Time Travel Tuesday: National Aviation History Month
Today we present some images of the Barling Bomber. At the time of the bomber’s first flight on August 22, 1923, it was the largest plane ever to fly. It was 120 feet from wing tip to wing tip, had six motors, and weighed 40,000 pounds.
This massive bombing plane was designed by Walter Henry Barling, at the behest of General William “Billy” Mitchell who asked for the world’s largest plane to “shock the people into realizing that the airplane is here to stay.” Mitchell was adamant that air power was essential to defending the United States. The Barling Bomber, also known as the Witteman-Lewis XNBL-1, turned out to be less than adequate for the long-range bombing it was designed for. However, the design and manufacturing innovations that made the Barling Bomber possible would influence the design or aircraft for decades.
From the George Hardie Papers, 1880-2001 (UWM Mss 65, box 25, folder 2)