F-85 Goblin
The FICON (Fighter-Conveyor) was a project intended to provide the B-36 with its own fighter type aircraft to be carried into the combat zone. The McDonnell XF-85 Goblin, the smallest jet-propelled fighter ever built, was a "parasite" designed to be dropped from a bomber, perform its mission and return to the mother ship.(Ha)
The XF-85 parasite aircraft was developed to protect B-36 bombers flying beyond the range of conventional escort fighters. In theory, a B-36 penetrating enemy territory would carry its protecting fighter in the bomb bay. If attacked by enemy aircraft, the bomber would lower the Goblin on a trapeze and release it to combat the attackers. After the enemy had been driven away, the parasite fighter would return to the bomber, hook onto the trapeze, fold its wings, and be lifted back into the bomb bay. Nobody thought about what would happen if the bomber was shot down.
The Goblin was egg shaped and its wings were swept back 37 degrees , they could fold upward. It had no landing gear, but was launched from the bomber and recovered using a hook and a retractable trapeze under the parent airplane. For emergencies, the Goblin had a steel skid under the fuselage and small runners on its wingtips.The tiny fighter was stable, easy to fly and recovered well from spins. However, many pilots found it hard to hook the Goblin in flight to its bomber's trapeze. McDonnell built two Goblins, and this one joined the collection at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
Although the XF-85 was successfully launched and flown from an EB-29B on several test flights, it was never successfully recovered in flight or flown from a B-36. The test program was canceled in late 1949 when mid-air refueling of fighter aircraft for range extension began to show greater promise.
