The development of Northrop's B-35 seemed hopeless from the start, and was doomed to be obsolescent before it could enter production.
After many teething problems from a beginning in 1943 mainly with the propellers and gearboxes the first flight was in 1946.
In reading write ups about it, one point that comes to mind I haven't seen mentioned. Defense.
America had just come through the biggest shooting war in history with the 'flying fortress' mentality of flying aircraft like the B-17 and the B-29, heavily armed through enemy fighter infested skies.
This seemed to be lost when looking at the 'wing' configuration. It isn't hard to see the difficulty of placing effective defensive armament. Just look at the propellers in the way at the rear. Virtually impossible to get a field of fire.
It seems fortunate that the concept was scrapped.
What took it's place was another disaster, the B-36. But that's another story.
