Stephens also did most of the test-flying of the N1-M, a flying mock-up intended to explore Northrop's pet all-wing concept. He assessed the N 1-M as vastly overweight, sorely underpowered and plagued with constant engine problems, but admitted that it fulfilled its design purpose and produced the general configuration for the subsequent Northrop Flying Wings.

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South America looked like commercial aviation's frontier after World War II, and Stephens formed a partnership with Northrop's former sales manager to start in aerial merchandising project in the interior of Brazil. Problems developed in spite of a government franchise, however, and when the climate proved detrimental to Stephens' young son's health, the family returned to Southern California. Moye and Inez Stephens later moved to Ensenada, Mexico, and then relocated in 1995 to California's Napa Valley to be near their son.

Jack Northrop awarded Moye Stephens lifetime membership in the Flying Wing Club in 1948. The Society of Experimental Test Pilots elected him Honorary Fellow in 1983, to join Charles Lindbergh, Howard Hughes, Jimmy Doolittle and some 50 other carefully selected…eminent individuals in the aerospace field. And the OX-5 Aviation Pioneers elected Stephens to its Hall of Fame in the San Diego Aerospace Museum in 1989.

What perhaps gives Stephens the most pleasure today is the black-and-white photographs in his tattered copy of a book published by Bobbs-Merrill in 1932. Written by Halliburton after they returned from their trip around the world that year, is titled simply The Flying Carpet.

This article was written by Ronald Gilliam and originally published in the July 1999 issue of Aviation History magazine.

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