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XF-85 Goblin
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Photo: Robert Deering 1985 National Museum of the USAF Wright-Paterson AFB (FFO) Dayton, Ohio |
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The McDonnell
Aircraft Corp. developed the XF-85 Goblin
"parasite" fighter to protect B-36 bombers
flying beyond the range of conventional
escort fighters. Planners envisioned a
"parent" B-36 carrying the XF-85 in the bomb
bay, and if enemy fighters attacked, the
Goblin would have been lowered on a trapeze
and released to combat the attackers. Once
the enemy had been driven away, the Goblin
would return to the B-36, hook onto the
trapeze, fold its wings and be lifted back
into the bomb bay. The Goblin had no landing
gear, but it had a steel skid under the
fuselage and small runners on the wingtips
for emergency landings. Using parasite fighters was not a new concept. In the early 1920s the U.S. Army Air Service had experimented with attaching airplanes to airships, and in the 1930s the U.S. Navy had successfully used parasite fighters on the dirigibles USS Akron and Macon. Two test aircraft were ordered in October 1945, and flight testing took place in 1948. The aircraft were launched and retrieved several times from an EB-29B, but one never flew from a B-36. This unusual program ended in late 1949 when aerial refueling of conventional fighter aircraft showed greater promise. |
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