Boeing Research & Technology engineers and technicians in California successfully flew the unmanned, remotely piloted X-48B Blended Wing Body flight-research vehicle for the 50th time April 2, 2009, marking another milestone in the company’s effort to explore and validate the aerodynamic characteristics of the BWB concept. With a 21-foot wingspan, the 500-pound airplane is an 8.5 percent scale model of a heavy-lift, subsonic airplane with a 240-foot wingspan that possibly could be developed in the next 15 or 20 years for military applications such as aerial refueling and cargo hauling.