Hal Markarian (1929 — 2012) was an

Armenian American Armenian Americans ( hy, ամերիկահայեր, ''amerikahayer'') are citizens or residents of the United States who have total or partial Armenian ancestry. They form the second largest community of the Armenian diaspora after Armenians in ...

aircraft designer who is known for implementing the initial designs of the B-2 Stealth Bomber. He produced a sketch that was the inspiration for the modern B-2 Spirit. Today's B-2 Spirit incorporates much of Markarian's design.

Design for the B-2 Stealth Bomber

During the initial project of the Stealth Bomber, Hal Markarian was appointed as project manager. The first sketches of the aircraft were done by Markarian in June 1979. Markarian's proposal was one of the two designs that were considered in the making of the Stealth Bomber. Markarian's proposal was very similar to the YB-49, an aircraft designed by Northrop Grumman three decades earlier in 1947. The design was influenced by Irv Waaland and John Cashen who were experts in

stealth technology Stealth technology, also termed low observable technology (LO technology), is a sub-discipline of military tactics and passive and active electronic countermeasures, which covers a range of methods used to make personnel, aircraft, ships, subm ...

. The team also included aerodynamicist Hans Grellman, as well as Dick Scherrer, a designer who had arrived from Lockheed. The design was much lighter and thinner than the modern B-2 Stealth Bomber and had six engines equipped, most likely

GE F404 The General Electric F404 and F412 are a family of afterburning turbofan engines in the class (static thrust). The series is produced by GE Aviation. Partners include Volvo Aero, which builds the RM12 variant. The F404 was developed into the ...

. The aircraft had a diamond shaped center body which served to accommodate a crew, fuselage and weapons. The aircraft design that Northrop Grumman would later adopt was similar, though it had a deeper center-section of the aircraft than Markarian's design. Due to demands from the

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...

, the aircraft was also made much heavier and had larger weapon carriers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Markarian, Hal Aircraft designers American people of Armenian descent Northrop Grumman people 1929 births 2012 deaths