Parasite Aircraft - Examples of Parasite Aircraft

Examples of Parasite Aircraft

Examples which have flown include

• A Bristol Scout was flown from a Porte Baby to become the first parasite aircraft (1916)
• An Albatros D.III was flown from L 35 (LZ 80) to become the first parasite fighter flying from an airship (January 26, 1918)
• A Sopwith Camel was flown from airship HMA 23 (1918)
• A Sperry Messenger biplane was launched and recovered by non-rigid airships Tc-3 and Tc-7 (1923)
• Several DH 53 Hummingbird light planes were launched and recovered by airship R33 (1924), followed by two Gloster Grebe fighters (1925).
• A glider and a biplane were recovered by the USS Los Angeles. These were followed by the F9C Sparrowhawk escort fighter which flew operationally from USS Akron and Macon (1935).
• Ohka Rocket plane on the Mitsubishi G4M.
• The Polikarpov I-16 modified into a dive bomber carrying two 250 kg bombs (variant TsKB-29), flown from a Tupolev TB-3 as the Zveno-SPB ("composite dive bomber"), was the first parasite aircraft to see combat (1941)
• The Messerschmitt Me 328 escort fighter was intended to fly from the Dornier Do 217/, but this was unsuccessful due to engine problems.
• The XF-85 Goblin was an attempt to equip B-36 bombers with their own escort fighters (1948)
• The F-84 was a more successful attempt to provide the B-36 with a parasite escort fighter in the FICON project(1952)