I thought the "AV" in AV-1 was for "air vehicle". I know there was
one that wasn't intended to go into service but did in the end. The
only one I know of that didn't was the "iron bird" that had different
landing gear, wasn't flyable, but was the same size and configuaration
as the production B-2. Could that be the one you are thinking of as
Northrop's aircraft?







The Iron bird was just that, a mockup of steel girders with much of the flight
and mission hardware installed, and the whole thing was tied to a full motion
simulator. Pretty awesome to see but not eactaly an airplane by any stretch.
..There wre two static test articles built IIRC tail #s 1001 and 1002, or maybe
2001/2. One is still at Plant 42 at Palmdale. the other at the AF Museum.