Subject: Number Eighty-Five in the Series--McDonnell XF-85 Goblin

From: [email-masked]
Date: 3 Aug 93 20:16:15 GMT

>From [email-masked]

On January 29, 1944, the Army Air Forces invited the industry to submit 
concept proposals for jet fighters capable of escorting its long-range 
heavy bombers.  Since the first jet fighters were notorious fuel hogs, 
they promised to have insufficient range to escort the long-range B-35 
and B-36 bombers then on the drawing boards.  As one possible solution 
to this range problem, the USAAF revived the parasite fighter idea of 
the early 1930s, and proposed that one solution to the problem might 
be for the long-range bombers to carry their protective fighters right 
along with them.  

The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation of St Louis was the only company to 
respond to the proposal.  McDonnell proposed a small fighter aircraft 
to be carried partially inside a parent B-29, B-36, or B-35 heavy 
bomber.  However, the AAF rejected this plan in January of 1945, 
concluding that the fighter would have to be carried ENTIRELY inside 
the B-35 or B-36.  

On March 19, 1945, McDonnell submitted a revised proposal--a plan for 
a tiny aircraft with an egg-shaped fuselage, a triple vertical tail, a 
tailplane with pronounced anhedral, and vertically-folding swept-back 
wings.  The engine was to be a 3000 lb.st. Westinghouse J34-WE-7 
axial-flow turbojet with a nose intake and a straight-through exhaust.  
The aircraft was to be fitted with a pressurized cockpit and an 
ejector seat.  Armament was to be four 0.50-cal machine guns in the 
forward fuselage sides.  

The USAAF liked the McDonnell proposal, and on October 9, 1945 they 
ordered two prototypes (plus one static test article) under the 
designation XP-85.  As a parallel development, the USAAF specified 
that the 24th and subsequent B-36s to be accepted by the service would 
be capable of carrying one P-85 in addition to the usual bomb load.  
It was even planned that some B-36s would be modified so that they 
could carry THREE fighters and no bomb load.  

Conditional upon the results of flight trials with the XP-85, the AAF 
had intended to order an initial batch of 30 production examples, but 
before the completion of the first prototype this plan was shelved in 
favor of a more cautious approach in which only the two experimental 
aircraft would be acquired.  

Since the XP-85 was to be launched and recovered from a retractable 
trapeze underneath its parent bomber, no conventional landing gear was 
fitted.  A retractable hook was fitted to the fuselage in front of the 
cockpit.  During recovery, the XP-85 would approach its parent bomber 
from underneath, and the hook would gently engage the trapeze.  Once 
securely attached, the aircraft would be pulled up into the belly of 
the bomber.  If an emergency landing were necessary, the aircraft was 
provided with a retractable steel skid underneath the fuselage, and 
the wingtips were protected by steel runners.  

Since no B-36 could be spared as yet for the project, a 
Bell-Atlanta-built Boeing B-29B-65-BA (Ser No 44-84111) was specially 
modified for use as the mothership in the initial testing.  
Redesignated EB-29B, it was fitted with a special launch-and-recovery 
trapeze that would be used for the first test flights of the XP-85.  

In June 1948, the XP-85 was redesignated XF-85 when the USAF replaced 
the prefix P for Pursuit by F for Fighter.  

The first prototype XF-85 (46-523) was damaged at Moffett Field, 
California during wind tunnel testing, so it was the second aircraft 
(46-524) that was used for the initial flight trials.  These began on 
August 23, 1948.  Initially, the XF-85 made captive flights suspended 
beneath the EB-29B at 20,000 feet above Muroc Dry Lake (later Edwards 
AFB).  The first free flight came on August 28.  The test pilot 
detached his XF-85 from the EB-29B and flew free for 15 minutes while 
he evaluated the handling properties of the new fighter.  However, 
when it came time to re-hook, he ran into trouble.  The XF-85 was 
caught in violent air turbulence underneath the parent aircraft.  
After ten minutes of futile attempts to hook onto the trapeze, the 
XF-85 was slammed up against the trapeze and the canopy was shattered.  
Fortunately, the pilot was uninjured and he managed to make an 
emergency landing on the dry lake bed below.  

Following repairs, 46-524 made three flights on October 14 and 15 of 
1948.  Three successful recoveries were made, although each one of 
them was a rather harrowing experience for all concerned.  However, on 
the fifth flight, more trouble was encountered.  The removal of the 
temporary fairing around the base of the hook resulted in severe 
turbulence and loss of directional stability, forcing the pilot to 
make another emergency landing.  Vertical surfaces were added to the 
wingtips in an attempt to improve directional stability while flying 
in the turbulent air underneath the EB-29B.  However, this did not 
help very much, and the sixth XF-85 flight ended in yet another 
emergency landing on the lakebed.  The same fate awaited 46-523 on 
April 8, 1949, when it made its first and only flight.  

In spite of the problems encountered with recovery, the XF-85 handled 
quite well in ordinary flight.  Its test pilot commented favorably on 
the stability, control, and spin recovery characteristics.  Estimated 
maximum speed was 648 mph at sea level and 581 mph at 35,000 feet.  
Initial climb was estimated to be 12,500 feet/min, and service ceiling 
was estimated at 48,000 feet.  I don't think that the armament of four 
0.50-cal machine guns was ever fitted.  

However, the Air Force reluctantly concluded that since the recovery 
operation was so difficult a job for even experienced test pilots, it 
would probably be far beyond the capabilities of the average squadron 
pilot.  In addition, it was projected that the performance of the 
XF-85 would likely be inferior to that of foreign interceptors that 
would soon enter service.  Furthermore, a budget crunch in the autumn 
of 1949 led to a severe shortage of funds for developmental projects.  
Consequently, the Air Force terminated the XF-85 program on October 
24, 1949.  

I have never found any references which state that the XP-85 ever made 
any flights from a B-36 mothership.  

Although the XF-85 Goblin was ultimately unsuccessful, it did provide 
some valuable data that was of use in the 1950s when the Republic 
RF-84F Thunderflash reconnaissance aircraft was adapted for launch and 
recovery beneath a B-36 bomber.  

XF-85 Ser No 46-523 is currently on display at the Wright-Patterson 
Air Force Base Museum.  I saw it there in May of last year.  It is 
indeed one tiny airplane! 

References: 

  McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Since 1920, Volume II, Rene J. Francillon, 
  Naval Institute Press, 1990.  

  The American Fighter, Enzo Angelucci and Peter Bowers, Orion Books, 
  1987.  

Joe Baugher		AT&T Bell Laboratories   	
2000 North Naperville Road      Naperville, Illinois 60566-7033