F9C-2 testing the in flight launch/recovery system mounted to the bottom of a US airship, c early 1930s. The USS Macon and Acron were the first purpose built flying aircraft carriers capable of carrying, launching, and recovering up to five parasite fighters.
Posted by Whinke@reddit | WeirdWings | View on Reddit | 41 comments
The first parasite fighters had their wheels removed cause why would you need them when you exclusively launch and land on an airship? Well it turns out you need them when you can't recover on the airship and have to emergency land. They had wheels after that.
Awkward_Session3408@reddit
IDK why people come up with some BS like "first they had no wheels and then they added it..
The sparrowhawks wheels could be removed an auxilary fuel tank fitted, but that was for over ocean use where they flew a pre-calculated search pattern, as the whole idea of it was fleet recon. (not strike or interception).
the fighters would fan out at pre-calculated courses arcing out and then in, so they re-meet the mothership but span a wide area for reconaissance.
Whinke@reddit (OP)
Oh dang you know what you're right, I swear I had read that somewhere in the past but can't find anything about it now. Edited the post to remove that.
mudbugsaccount@reddit
Look up project Tip Tow and project TomTom for more parasite fighter tomfoolery
hottapvswr@reddit
My grandfather told stories of having to do this.
He said the docking and launching wasn't the worst part. The worst part was walking around on the gantries inside the airship afterwards. That was ridiculous.
Inevitable_Yak_3975@reddit
I can imagine how insanely windy and unstable those things must've been, and after flying for hours and being exhausted the last thing you want to do is fight for your life to take a few steps to safety... yikes.
GrafZeppelin127@reddit
Well, the inside of the hangar wasn’t windy or unstable, as it was all internal to the ship. Hard to navigate the structure, though, definitely. It didn’t really have a floor as such, only a fabric faring over a bunch of girders and narrow catwalks.
Inevitable_Yak_3975@reddit
wouldnt the wind still get in through the bottom though? I might just have it totally backwards here but werent they open on the bottom?
GrafZeppelin127@reddit
There was a retractable faring over the bottom of the hangar.
ctesibius@reddit
There are not many shots inside, but here is one.
hottapvswr@reddit
That's great to see, thanks
Changes the vision of it I have had in my head all these decades
taylor1670@reddit
Why was that? Was there nothing beneath the gantries?
hottapvswr@reddit
Yes, if I remember correctly it was just gantries and then over the edge, you would fall right out through the the bag itself and you're gone.
torgofjungle@reddit
I’ve wondered with the development of drones if we might see something like this return. Basically a floating airborne drone delivery systems
GrafZeppelin127@reddit
It’s already being looked into by several countries, in varying stages of deployment—Ukraine, the UK, India, and Finland. India’s military put out a bidding contest to their domestic aircraft manufacturers for the most ambitious of these systems, the “Medium Altitude Heavy Lift Airship.” It is an autonomous AWACS airship capable of flying at up to 30,000 feet, reaching 100 knots, remaining on station for 30 days using supplemental solar panels and fuel cells, and carrying up to 5 tonnes of interceptor drones and/or missiles.
That’s not much compared to lower-altitude hybrid airships that can carry hundreds or thousands of tons, but relative to other extreme long-endurance platforms, it does deserve the name “heavy lift.”
YogurtclosetDull2380@reddit
Yes, and flock cameras will be their eyes on the ground. You can see then in action in Terminator Salvation.
Whinke@reddit (OP)
They were BIG airships too, nearly as large as the more famous Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelin II. The difference was these were filled with helium (they remain the largest helium airships to date) and so were less prone to firey explosions.
Both crashed in storms, 73 people of an approximately 83 person crew died when Akron went down, but only 2 when Macon crashed thanks to more favorable conditions and safety measures implemented after the significant loss of life in the Akron crash.
This old post has a great high res cross section, you can see the plane and launcher in the bottom right part of the airship to get a sense of the enormous scale.
CarterDee@reddit
What a coincidence, I just discovered the video of the sailors falling off the Akron yesterday. Harrowing stuff.
GrafZeppelin127@reddit
The Navy at the time was very inexperienced with designing and handling airships, unfortunately. It led to a lot of preventable accidents. The Akron and Macon were only the first and second domestically-designed rigid airships the Americans had ever built—the Shenandoah and Los Angeles being either copied from or purchased from the Germans.
GenericAccount13579@reddit
They’re pretty much the reason Hindenburg and GZ were hydrogen. The German airships were designed to use helium but the US had basically a monopoly on the gas and wouldn’t release enough to the Germans, since the US was using it for their own airship programs.
epimitheus17@reddit
IIRC it as very hard to dock because of turbulence, and impossible to dock safely. Pretty wild idea though.
GrafZeppelin127@reddit
Actually, the docking procedure was a lot easier than landing on a sea-based carrier and was accomplished thousands of times without a single incident or accident.
Sir-Realz@reddit
How far we've fallen
FlamingTrashcans@reddit
Crimson Skies took this concept and ran lol
smelody-poop@reddit
I’d trade my extra testicle for a reboot of this game.
FlamingTrashcans@reddit
Wait *extra*
FlamingTrashcans@reddit
I crave zeppelin wrecks
Darkspiff73@reddit
I played the heck out of that game on my Xbox. Multiplayer was a blast!
RoadBuster@reddit
When ya hit the ground, tell em Nathan Zachary sent ya!
t53ix35@reddit
Here is a movie for you:
1931’s “Dirigible”
https://youtu.be/rLYZVKiPidU?si=jdV4QmwwVaIRxiNd
Zcube73@reddit
One of the most bat shit crazy ideas of the 30s
DuelJ@reddit
That's not nearly as bad as I'd expect, having only seen photos.
TheEpicGold@reddit
This just made me remember I watched a very detailed video about these airships one day. Can't really remember a lot about it. I think it was about how they tracked a US president to convince him that these airships have use as platforms for these planes. And then of course, they crashed. I don't remember what and where I watched it, but it was very interesting.
flackguns@reddit
Incredibly cool concept. Steampunk as hell
Basis-Some@reddit
Being from Macon, the main library had a giant model of the Macon I loved looking at
Winston_Carbuncle@reddit
I get the logic of the name parasite but it doesn't sound great... Certainly not befitting of such a feat
FailedLoser21@reddit
And it's spelled Akron not Acron.
Whinke@reddit (OP)
Woops you are correct, Macon and Akron got mixed in my head and came out Acron
Sam-Gunn@reddit
First?
Whinke@reddit (OP)
First purpose built airborne aircraft carriers generally, if I had to guess this is a later test though based on the landing gear. IIRC the first F9C-2s in the test had their landing gear removed until a crash led them to reinstall them.
randytc18@reddit
At what point did they cut the engine? Looks to be running the whole time in this video. I'm guessing once inside?
Whinke@reddit (OP)
Looks like it, probably just in case the tiny hook he uses slips off and he has to recover.