The aircraft had an open cockpit in the center wing section and single, rear-facing, pusher propeller connected to a Menasco Cirrus inverted-four piston engine blended into the all-wing shape.

At about this same time, Jack Northrop became aware of Walter and Reimar Horten's record-setting "tailless" flying wing glider designs being tested in Germany beginning in 1934.

Built mostly of specially laminated layers of glued wood, the design of both wooden wings allowed for easy configuration changes with the central blended fuselage, which was made of tubular steel.

[5][N 1] Northrop's Chief Test Pilot Vance Breese flew the N-1M on its maiden flight, unexpectedly bouncing into the air during a planned high-speed taxi run.

Flight could only be sustained by maintaining a precise angle of attack, but Theodore von Kármán solved the problem by making adjustments to the trailing edges of the elevons.