Witteman-Lewis XNBL-1

Development of the XNBL-1 (Experimental Night Bomber, Long Range) Barling Bomber Barling had previously designed the Tarrant Tabor, which was similar in concept but was destroyed in a fatal nose-over crash on its first attempted flight in 1919. Like the Tabor, the Barling Bomber was a large six-engined triplane with a circular section fuselage. Unlike its predecessor, the Barling had all of its engines mounted level with the fuselage. The aircraft had three wings; the middle wing had no control surfaces, and was shorter and narrower than the two others. The top and bottom wings had a chord of , and each had a surface area of about . The stabilizer and elevator surfaces were with an chord. The four fins and rudders looked had a surface area of . The undercarriage had 10 wheels, including two wheels mounted towards the front of the aircraft (to prevent a nose-over on takeoff) and a tail skid. The specification for the aircraft called for it to carry a bomb load at an altitude of while maintaining a speed of . These gave the gunners a field of fire which covered practically the whole area around the bomber. Bomb racks were mounted in an enclosed bomb bay beneath the gasoline tanks, which could accommodate any bomb in the air service inventory, including the and bombs that had been designed specifically to sink a battleship. The Barling incorporated bomb bay doors on the bottom of the fuselage, one of the first aircraft with this feature. The contract for the bomber was awarded to Witteman-Lewis, located in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey; the contract price was $375,000 and specified the construction of two aircraft. As costs rose with changes to the design the second aircraft was cancelled; by October 1922, when the prototype was completed, the cost had risen to $525,000 for the single aircraft. The Army Air Corps refused to cover the overrun, and soon after delivery of the aircraft Witteman-Lewis went out of business. ==Operational history==

The Barling Bomber made its maiden flight from Wilbur Wright Field in Riverside, Ohio on 22 August 1923. At the time, it was comparable in size to the German Riesenflugzeug and Italian Caproni Ca.4 heavy bombers and remains large even by today's standards, however it was severely overbuilt and weighed significantly more than other contemporary aircraft of a similar size at the time, to the detriment of its performance. On its first flight, it was piloted by Lt. Harold R. Harris, and Lt. Muir S. Fairchild, future U.S. Air Force Vice Chief of Staff. The flight engineer was Douglas Culver. Barling flew along as a passenger. Critics had claimed that the bomber would roll all the way to Dayton before it ever took off, but the aircraft became airborne after a 13-second, takeoff run. The flight lasted 28 minutes and reached an altitude of . Although capable of carrying a bomb load, it was soon discovered that the aircraft was seriously underpowered, and performance was disappointing. The overly complex structure of three wings and their accompanying struts and bracing wires created so much drag that the six engines couldn't compensate. Fully loaded, the XNBL-1 had a range of only about with a top speed of . In contrast, the "short-range" Martin NBS-1 had a range of about and could carry a payload at the same speed. On a flight from Dayton, Ohio to a scheduled appearance at an airshow in Washington, DC, the Barling Bomber failed to achieve enough height to get over the Appalachian Mountains and had to turn around. Although the Barling Bomber was a failure, it introduced the use of large strategic bombers to the US military. Even Gen. "Hap" Arnold, who ordered it destroyed, later stated "if we look at it without bias, certainly [the Barling] had influence on the development of B-17s... and B-29s." ==Operators==

; • United States Army Air Service ==Specifications==