[3] On 30 October 1941, the preliminary order for development of the B-35 Flying Wing bomber was confirmed, including engineering, testing, and most importantly a 60 ft (18 m) wingspan, one-third scale aircraft, designated N-9M.

[4] It was to be used in gathering data on flight performance and for familiarizing pilots with the program's radical, all-wing design.

[4] The first flight of the N-9M occurred on 27 December 1942 with Northrop test pilot John Myers at the controls.

The pilot, Max Constant, was killed as he attempted to recover the aircraft from a right-hand, 60° nose-down spin.

[6] When Northrop's Flying Wing bomber program was canceled, all remaining N-9M flight test aircraft, except for the final N-9MB, were scrapped.

For more than three decades, it slowly deteriorated until the Chino, California Planes of Fame Air Museum acquired the aircraft in 1982 and began the labor-intensive restoration process.