Parasite Aircraft - Parasite Fighters

Parasite Fighters

Until the middle of the 20th century there was military interest in parasite fighters - fighter aircraft intended to be carried into a combat zone by a larger aircraft, such as a bomber. If the bomber were threatened, the parasite would be released to defend it. Parasite fighters have never been highly successful and have seldom been used in combat. A major disadvantage of a parasite aircraft was that it reduced the payload capacity of the carrier aircraft. Projects for this type were designed to overcome the great disparity in range between bombers and their escort fighters. Development of aerial refueling has made parasite fighters obsolete.

The first parasite fighters were carried aboard military airships. As early as 1918, the Royal Air Force launched Sopwith Camel fighters from HM Airship 23, and tried again with Gloster Grebes on the R.33 in 1925. The "Imperial Airship" Programme" of 1924 envisaged a commercial airship that could also carry five fighter aircraft as well as troops if put into military use but the military usage was dropped and only civilian use retained. In the following decade, two U.S. Navy airships, the USS Akron and the Macon, were designed with parasite fighter capability. Although operations with F9C Sparrowhawks were quite successful, the loss of both airships in crashes put an end to this programme.

The first bombers to carry parasite fighters did so as part of the Zveno experiments carried out in the Soviet Union by Vladimir Vakhmistrov from 1931. Up to five fighters of various types were carried by Polikarpov TB-2 and Tupolev TB-3 bombers. In August 1941, these combinations would fly the only combat missions ever undertaken by parasite fighters. TB-3s carrying Polikarpov I-16SPB dive bombers attacked the Cernavodă bridge and Constantsa docks, in Romania. After that, this squadron, based in the Crimea, carried out a tactical attack on a bridge over the river Dneiper at Zaporozhye, which had been captured by advancing German troops.

Later in World War II, the Luftwaffe experimented with the Messerschmitt Me 328 as a parasite fighter, but problems with its pulsejet engines could not be overcome. Other late-war rocket-powered projects such as the Arado E.381 and Sombold So 344 never left the experimental stage.

During the early years of the Cold War, the United States Air Force experimented with a variety of parasite fighters to protect its Convair B-36 bombers, including the dedicated XF-85 Goblin, and methods of either carrying a Republic F-84 Thunderjet in the bomber's bomb bay (the FICON project), or attached to the bomber's wingtips (Project Tom-Tom). These projects were all soon abandoned, partly because aerial refueling appeared as a much safer solution to extend the range of fighters.