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.”
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.
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...