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A parasite fighter is a parasite fighter aircraft intended to be carried into a combat zone by a larger aircraft, such as a bomber. If the bomber were threatened, it would be able to release the parasite to defend itself. Parasite fighters have never been highly successful and have seldom been used in actual combat. Projects for this type were designed to overcome the massive disparity in range between bombers and their escort fighters. Apart from the fact that none of these schemes worked particularly well, aerial refuelling has done away with the need for such schemes.

The first parasite fighters were carried aboard military airships. As early as 1918, the Royal Air Force launched Sopwith Camel fighters from HMA 23 , and tried again with Gloster Grebe s on the R.33 in 1925. In the following decade, two U.S. Navy airships, the USS Akron and Macon were built with parasite fighter carrying capabilities designed into them from the start. Although operations with F9C Sparrowhawk s 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 experiments carried out in the Soviet Union by Vladimir Vakhmistrov from 19311931 is the common year starting on Thursday. see link for calendar) Events January January 4 Female aviator Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa January 6 Thomas Edison submits his last patent application. January 22 Sir Isaac Isaacs sworn in as the onwards. Up to five fighters of various types were carried by Tupolev TB-2 and TB-3 bombers. One of these combinations would fly the only combat mission ever undertaken by parasite fighters when a TB-2 carrying Polikarpov SPB dive bomberA dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy. In doing so the aircraft decreases the time it takes for the bomb to reach its target, both through greater speed and shorter distance, thereby maks attacked the Negra Voda bridge in RomaniaRomania (formerly spelled Rumania or Roumania is a country in southeastern Europe. Romania is bordered by Ukraine and Moldova in the northeast, Hungary and Serbia in the west and Bulgaria to the south. Romania also has a small sea coast on the Black Sea. in 19411941 is also the title of a Steven Spielberg movie made in 1979 see 1941 (film). Events January January 6 Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms Speech in the State of the Union Address. January 10 Lend-Lease is introduced into the United St.

Later in World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough, the LuftwaffeThe Luftwaffe (literally, "air weapon", prounounced looft-vaaf-fa) is the air force of Germany. World War I Founded during World War I with the emergence of military aircraft, the Luftwaffe utilized a wide variety of aircraft. After the war ended, it was experimented with the Messerschmitt Me 328Messerschmitt Me 328A-1 Description RoleParasite fighter Crewone, pilot Dimensions Length8. 63 m27 ft 7 in Wingspan6. 40 m20 ft 6 in Height2. 10 m7 ft Wing area Weights Empty1,840 kg4,056 lb Loaded2,674kg5,896 lb Powerplant Engines2x Argus As 014 pulsejet 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 drawing board.

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 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 abandoned before long.

See also: Parasite aircraft