Pete Merlin and Tony Moore had been interested in Northrop's flying wing airplanes for many years. They had each visited the YB-49 crash site north of Edwards Air Force Base and were anxious to search for the remains of the N-9M-1.

Pete found a photograph of the wrecked N-9M-1 in a book called Winged Wonders: The Story of the Flying Wing by E.T. Woodridge. It showed the airplane lying in a gully somewhere west of Edwards, approximately 12 miles west of the old Muroc Army Airfield site.

On 13 March 1993 Pete and Tony took the photo into the desert and lined up the visible landmarks. After a few hours of searching they found the site. It was unmistakable because the rocks at the site were clearly the same as the ones in the photo. The ground was littered with small pieces of metal and wood. Many of the wood fragments, remnants of the airplane's laminated mahogany skin, were still covered with yellow paint. Pete and Tony gathered a selection of parts and took them to the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum at Edwards where they were soon put on display.