XF-85 page at National Museum of the United States Air Force
Posted on 09/13/2014 8:32:17 PM PDT by DemforBush
Interesting little documentary/training film about The XF-85 Goblin. The Goblin was a tiny little fighter jet prototype designed to be a "parasite fighter", carried by the bomber it was supposed to protect...
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
Here's a related link of unedited camera footage of the tests. At around 2:45 you see a docking that goes very wrong. (The pilot survives, but yikes, what a scary moment!)
The guy who tested this prototype ought to have received a Medal of Honor. Three belly landings that he walked away from. He used up so many of his lives testing this unworkable design, he died at age 35 in a flying accident.
http://thetartanterror.blogspot.com/2007/08/edwin-fschoch.html
Here's a short video of the incident.
XF-85 page at National Museum of the United States Air Force
Wow, that is EXACTLY what I was thinking!
It may not have been a viable weapon of war, but it was surely the cutest fighter plane in history.
Supposedly, some D-21s are Google Earth visible in the boneyard in Arizona. Dunno if they ever flew any operational spy missions as designed.
The on board self defense fighter probably made sense at one time when bombers had enormous range and needed a way to fend off enemy interceptors once near the target. Hard to see the little XF-85 taking on a Mig, but proof of concept is just that. Think it was tried with the B-36 with a larger fighter.
Still a twitchy deal flying near a large aircraft turbulence. heck, ATC even warns of flying near where a large plane was some time before, let alone flying underneath the damn thing!
Active Duty/Retiree ping.
Crazy!
I can hear the Jetson vehicle just looking at that jet. And laugh.
I know the missions were very different, and the lack of a pilot in D-21 was a huge difference.
My point was that the Air Force was stuck on this idea of an aircraft launched from another aircraft for a lot of years. They spent an enormous amount of resources pursuing it. It never worked out.
I guess in-flight refueling changed the whole game on that idea, and it seemed to have been put to rest.
In-flight refueling must have been a very big deal back when it was developed.
I wonder if one of the reasons the USAF pursued the “parasite” concept so doggedly was institutional rivalry with the Navy. If the Navy can launch airplanes from ships, the Air Force maybe thought “we should be able to launch airplanes from airplanes.”
The XF-85 Goblin was designed to fit in the bomb bay of the B-36 bomber and was supposed to be launched and recovered in the air from a retracting trapeze mechanism. Proof of concept was tested using a modified B-29. Launching was accomplished without much trouble. The trouble came when the Goblin tried to hook onto the trapeze for recovery.
Turbulence behind and below the B-29 was fierce when the trapeze was lowered into position. The little jet was bounced all about and collided with the trapeze. The canopy was heavily damaged and the jet forced to land at Rogers Dry Lake, Edwards AFB. Further testing led to additional forced landings in the desert. Modifications were made, but all attempts were unsuccessful in solving the docking problem.
The two Goblins built made a total of 7 flights. All landings were made on Rogers Dry Lake. In the end, the USAF canceled the program on 24 October 1949. Both XF-85 Goblin prototypes survived and are on display at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH and the Strategic Air and Space Museum in Ashland, NE.
Disagree. The AF launched converted target drones as spy drones over North Vietnam. No idea how much useful info came of that.
If you restrict your point to manned aircraft launched from another, other than the X series, your point is taken.
Supposedly, some D-21s are Google Earth visible in the boneyard in Arizona. Dunno if they ever flew any operational spy missions as designed.
...
Wiki says it flew 4 missions over China, launched from B-52’s, and then retired around 1970.
Here’s a related link of unedited camera footage of the tests. At around 2:45 you see a docking that goes very wrong.
...
It looks like he collided with the docking rig, and then pitched up too high, causing a stall.
Bah. The Navy (where they have REAL aviators) was doing it back in the 30s. Figures it’d take the Chair Force a couple of decades to catch up...
I’m sure parasite uav’s launched from space will be the next thing. It would likely be successful since they can land on the ground and be reused. No need for docking in space.
And we were wealthy, too.
Didja' see the 8000 drafting tables at Mcdonnell ?
OK, a little exagerated .. but ...
Aviation History Bump.
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