Recovered in flight or flown from a B-36. Although the XF-85 was successfully launched and flownįrom an EB-29B on several test flights, it was never successfully Hook onto the trapeze, fold its wings, and be lifted back into theīomb bay. Had been driven away, the parasite fighter would return to the bomber, On a trapeze and release it to combat the attackers. If attacked by enemy aircraft, the bomber would lower the Goblin In theory, a B-36 penetratingĮnemy territory would carry its protecting fighter in the bomb bay, ready to fly in front. The XF-85 was developed to protect B-36 bombers flying beyond the The F-85 (XF-85) McDonnell "Goblin" Parasite Jet Fighter. To sticking drop tanks on escorting fighters. Sense eventually prevailed and the Boys in Blue opted to go back Over controlled the li' l beast trying to hook the trapeze for recovery-afterĪ couple of midair's (with the Goblin coming off second-best), common (see right) BrettĪnother reason for the USAF dropping it was that, in addition toīeing unstable as all get-out (which is normally a good thing inĪ fighter), the control surfaces were so dinky that pilots invariably In the museum, the Goblin is right next the the B-36F. I've attached a couple of pictures of the real one as well. Here is the link to the museums website for the I knew this for sometime now but it didn't really hit me Your model with tail # S/N 46-524 is the plane that is here. That the local museum I work at has one of the originals. I was looking at the XF-85 today and remembered And for a change, I was able toįit the wing through the fuse without any unsightly gaps! I hate to say such an unmanly thing,īut the damn thing is cute. The Goblin this weekend between my chores and trying to fix There's another in the folder that is about 1:60 Shown is the larger size of this mini monster- 6'5" wing span. Its performance and armament would have been inadequate to deal with the MiG fighters it would have encountered Was a desperate idea born of desperate times. Īnother idea was that the B-36 could be used to carry an RF-84F reconnaissance fighter the latter would be launched at some point outside hostile territory, up to 2800 miles from the B-36's base, at an altitude of 25,000 ft and would then make a dash over the targetĪt high speed, after which it would be retrieved by the parent aircraft. Experiments were abandoned, but later on modified F-84s were flown under B-36s. On another flight the hook broke the canopy and knocked off the pilot's helmet. In its test programme, using a B-29, turbulence under the bomber made this very difficult and it was only achieved three times. After fighting off the enemy (with its four machine guns) the XF-85 Goblin was to return to the bomber and hook on to its trapeze. The XF-85 itself was designed entirely around the constraints of the bomb bay of the B-36 and thus lacked the performance of a conventional fighter. The 1947 successor to the USAAF, the United States Air Force (USAF), continued to examine the concept of parasite aircraft under Project MX-106 "Tip Tow", Project FICON, and Project "Tom-Tom" following the cancellation.The XF-85 Goblin was intended to let heavy bombers bring along their own fighter escort along the lines of various 'parasite fighter' experiments, conducted with US airships and Soviet bombers in the 1930s. The XF-85 was swiftly canceled, and the prototypes were thereafter relegated to museum exhibits. Flight tests showed promise in the design, but the aircraft's performance was inferior to the jet fighters it would have faced in combat, and there were difficulties in docking. The prototypes were built and underwent testing and evaluation in 1948. The XF-85 was a diminutive jet aircraft featuring a distinctive egg-shaped fuselage and a forked-tail stabilizer design. This was to address the limited range of existing interceptor aircraft compared to the greater range of new bomber designs. The XF-85 was a response to a USAAF requirement for a fighter to be carried within the Northrop XB-35 and B-36, then under development. McDonnell built two prototypes before the Air Force (USAAF) terminated the program. The XF-85's intended role was to defend bombers from hostile interceptor aircraft, a need demonstrated during World War II. It was intended to deploy from the bomb bay of the giant Convair B-36 bomber as a parasite fighter. The McDonnell XF-85 Goblin is an American prototype fighter aircraft conceived during World War II by McDonnell Aircraft.