McDonnell XF-85 Goblin, a Parasite Fighter designed for use with the B-36 Peacemaker and possibly inspired by ww2 German paper bombers that also had parasites.

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AverageAircraftFan@reddit

Nothing to do with nazis at all…Nazi germany and their inventions sucked, idk why you guys drool over them.

The Brits were first to invent parasite fighters in the 1910s but the US created trapeze fighters in the 30s

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I don't see why it should have been inspired by anything German - the US had its own history of parasite aircraft, as did frankly everyone, and the US even had experience with it to an extent with the Akron class airships. Its RFP was drawn up and responded to before the end of the war.

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IronWarhorses@reddit (OP)

if you got the research why not use it? after all we all know who ran the Saturn V program its not like the USA had any moral scruples about it.

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Kanyiko@reddit

Not at all 'based on German research' - the Parasite Fighter program debuted in January of 1944 (first concept meeting - January 29th 1944) - well before any German research fell into Allied hands. It was a project for jet escort fighters for their long-range bombers at a time when jets were notoriously fuel-inefficient; one of the solutions proposed was based on the parasite fighters from the Akron/Macon airship era.

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Plump_Apparatus@reddit

The US had "Sparrowhawk" parasite fighters on the rigid airships Macon and Akron, which were designed before Nazi Germany was even a thing. The British pioneered the idea with experiments with the 23-class rigid airships during WW1.

I'm not sure what research Nazi Germany could have contributed. The Me 328 never went past experimental stages and was never mounted to a mothership. The Mistel program only produced twinned aircraft, with one being a eventually unmanned flying bomb.

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Haruspex-of-Odium@reddit

Back in '96, just after getting out of the Army, I was a CNA at a nursing home in Titusville FL. One of the people I took care of was a crewman on the Macon. Guy was tiny, 5 ft nothing. He couldn't communicate but proudly had his Navy memorabilia displayed in his room.

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Lt-Lettuce@reddit

Lucky he wasn't on akron. Crazy to see living history like that.

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syringistic@reddit

Yeah didn't only like 2 people survive the Akron?

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TapRevolutionary5738@reddit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zveno_project

Soviets actually used their parasite fighters. Stop idolizing the Luftwaffe, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium was the most hilariously corrupt and ineffective ministry on all sides of the second world war.

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Ornery_Year_9870@reddit

"if you got the research why not use it?" LOL.

Present your research.

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LordofSpheres@reddit

My point was that they didn't have the research when the RFP was asked and answered; the German research was probably of less use than the American experience, even when it was available, and frankly the Germans had very little use for parasite fighters as compared to the Americans, who were desperate to have some way of escorting intercontinental B-36 flights in the near future of the war.

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Balmung60@reddit

And the Soviets actually did it and flew real missions with five fighters hooked up to a TB-3 bomber

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mbleyle@reddit

look up Curtis F7C Sparrowhawk and get back to us about inspiration

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2morrow-Never@reddit

Opportunity missed once the parasite project was over , they should have extended its legtb and wingspan to try it out as a carrier based aircrsft. Might have produced an intresteresting results 🤔

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LightningFerret04@reddit

That would have been interesting, you could probably pack them in pretty tight

Although I wonder even with wing extensions how much fuel you could squeeze into this airframe. When they say it was only meant for point defense, it really was only meant for defending a point

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2morrow-Never@reddit

Well with wing extension/folding wings and drop tanks plus three/four foot extension on the main air frame, would give you some range , as you say its point defence interceptor An intresteresting concept

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tac1776@reddit

"About half of the Goblin flights ended with emergency ground landings after the test pilot could not hook up to the B-29." - AF museum

Gee, I wonder why they didn't build more of them? I just can't believe the test pilot kept willingly getting into the cockpit of this thing.

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LightningFerret04@reddit

Could’ve been worse I guess, other than aircraft that fatally crashed, you have things like the XF-84H Thunderscreech:

““You aren’t big enough and there aren’t enough of you to get me in that thing again”. - Lin Hendrix, Republic test pilot

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tac1776@reddit

Yeah, I think it tried to ground loop so that's a completely understandable reaction.

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syringistic@reddit

It was also so absurdly loud it would often cause groundstaff physical discomfort, going as far as giving one dude a seizure

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fullouterjoin@reddit

Test pilots, like people that clear mines have a complex relationship with existence.

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Hot-Calendar5290@reddit

apparently this dumpy little thing flew quite well but the act of getting it back onto the bomber insanely difficult

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humanmeatwave@reddit

I imagine that the flight handling characteristics of that thing were EXTREMELY dodgy.

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numahu@reddit

I whished Crimson Skies would be continued...

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PkHolm@reddit

Actually it was Russian who ever used parasite bombers in combat. And with success.

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TheWildLemon12@reddit

im lucky enough to have seen both surviving airframes at the SAC musuem and airforce musuem in ohio.

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CapitanianExtinction@reddit

It's so cute! Maybe one day it'll grow up to be a real fighter plane

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segft@reddit

It looks like a plushie! I want to squish it.

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redstercoolpanda@reddit

Fun fact about the Goblin thats not very well known. It was actually not equipped with any weapons! It was hoped that when the enemy fighters saw it they would laugh so hard they would lose control of the plane and crash!

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Ozma207@reddit

The only test pilot to fly the aircraft was killed in 1951 on his 35th birthday while flying a McDonnell F2H-2 Banshee which broke up in flight. https://www.cesarebrizio.it/AAFC/1959_09_13_Schoch_obituary.jpg

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