Flying aircraft carrier: description, characteristics and history of creation

The flying aircraft carrier is an air vehicle capable of carrying several smaller aircraft designed for conducting combat operations in the air.

The idea of its creation arose soon after the construction and start of the exploitation of Zeppelins, more known to the reader as airships.

The creation of an aircraft carrier was considered a promising business, as it increased the effectiveness of combat aviation. However, with the advent of aircraft-tankers this direction has lost its relevance, although it has not been completely dumped.

What caused the appearance of flying aircraft carriers

The emergence of new vehicles and mechanisms is always associated with specific demands of the society. As you know, at the beginning of the 20th century the First World War broke out, during which the first time combat aviation was used from both sides. However, its effectiveness was very low.

The fact is that the airplanes that were in service with the armies had a negligible range because of the small amount of fuel on board. This severely limited the use of combat aircraft, since they could only operate in the front-line zone. The enemy's rear was out of reach for them.

The need to improve the effectiveness of combat aviation forced the military to pay attention to the zeppelins - airships with a metal shell. These aircraft had quite impressive dimensions and the ability to fly over long distances. This caused the idea of moving with their help aircraft for long distances deep into enemy territory for bombing attacks on strategic targets. So there were flying aircraft carriers. But it should be noted that each country went its own way to realizing this idea. This approach did not always lead to successful solutions.

Airship-airship. First experience

The initial direction in creating a flying aircraft carrier was the use in this capacity of airships, which were widely used in military conflicts, until the end of World War II.

Aircraft designers considered the most acceptable option: the biplane was attached to Zeppelin board and was delivered to the combat area.

After that, the plane was removed from the hatch of the airship by a special crane and detached. All this happened at full speed of the aircraft carrier. Next was an independent flight of a biplane.

After accomplishing the combat mission, the aircraft returned to the zeppelin, which continued to run in the area of combat operations, clinging to it at full speed with a crane hook and being pulled inward. Then the aircraft carrier returned to the airfield.

At the end of 1918 the American airship C-1 lifted the Curtiss JN4 airplane, attached to the gondola. After the ascent, the biplane unhooked and independently continued its flight.

Later, the US built two more airships in the history of aviation, the "Macon" and "Akron", which were 239 meters long and were capable of carrying up to four fighters on board. However, the lack of experience in the construction of this kind of Zeppelins adversely affected their future fate: both "aircraft" were catastrophic due to their weak design.

Change in the concept of the creation of aircraft carriers

The experience of using the airship as a flying aircraft carrier has shown the failure of this direction. Particularly the interest to him has been extinguished after the catastrophe of the largest zeppelin in the world, "Hindenburg." The hydrogen-filled airship burned instantly, killing more than three dozen passengers and crew members.

Also, a significant drawback of the airship-dirigible was its vulnerability from enemy aircraft. The appearance of enemy aircraft in the vicinity of the aircraft carrier, "stuffed" with hydrogen, meant for him an imminent death.

Therefore, in the First World War, the British attempted to create a composite aircraft, that is, an aircraft carrying a fighter. As such an aircraft carrier, the British intended to use a flying boat, fixing a fighter on top of it.

The idea, of course, was good, but difficult to implement. Therefore, a flying aircraft carrier in the form of a composite aircraft was never created by British aircraft designers. However, bitter foreign experience did not stop Russian aircraft builders.

The idea of the aircraft designer VS Vakhmistrov

Vladimir Sergeevich Vakhmistrov is a graduate of the Air Fleet Academy. After graduating from the Academy he worked in the aviation scientific and testing institute. Within its walls, the designer came up with the idea of using a twin-engine bomber TB-1, created by the well-known designer Tupolev, as an "aircraft".

Vladimir Sergeevich proposed to fix two fighters on the wings of TB-1 with special locks.

In this case, the aircraft were used as a bomber defense against enemy aircraft.

It was also planned that after the bombing of the enemy's facilities, TB-1 and the fighters returned to the aerodrome each independently.

Embodiment of the idea of Vakhmistrov

In the middle of 1931, the Soviet command approved the plan of VS Vakhmistrov, believing that the aircraft carrier was a serious weapon.

A group of young designers began intensive work on the creation of a winged aircraft carrier, or, as it was then called, a plane-link. At the end of 1931, the flying aircraft carrier Vakhmistrova was ready for testing. The most experienced pilots of that time, namely, Adam Zalewski (commander of the bomber crew), Andrei Sharapov (co-pilot BT-1), Valery Chkalov and Alexander Anisimov (pilots of fighters attached to the bomber wings) performed the first flights.

Circus of Vakhmistrov

So called test flights of the first Soviet aircraft carrier. The fact is that often flights were accompanied by abnormal situations.

For example, during the first flight, the uncoordinated actions of the crew of the bomber and the pilot of the Chkalov fighter led to Zalevsky opening the front locks of fixing the fighter at the closed rear post of his chassis. Only the experience of Chkalov saved all from the disaster.

A similar situation happened to the fighter V. Kokkinaki: he did not open the tail lock of the chassis. Here the situation was saved by the commander of the bomber Stefanovsky, making the decision to board fighter jets on the wings. Everything ended well.

A Warming Success

The first test flights showed that the Soviet flying aircraft carriers deserved further development.

To replace the bomber TB-1 was created a more powerful TB-3, capable of becoming an aircraft carrier for the new I-5 Polikarpov fighters. At the same time, it became possible to increase the number of carried fighters to three or two on the wings and one on the fuselage.

Vakhmistrov made an attempt to secure the fighters under the wings of TB-3, but it ended with the death of the fighter pilot. The reason for the disaster was again the lock of the aircraft on the "aircraft", not opened in the air, but spontaneously worked during landing.

In 1935, the Soviet flying aircraft carrier was capable of transporting five fighters, one of them (I-Z) being connected with the "aircraft" in the air.

In 1938, the flying aircraft carrier was adopted into the Red Army.

The most famous aircraft carriers

There are five flying aircraft carriers that have left a trace in the history of aviation: Soviet Tupolev Tupolev, Tu-95N, American Convair B-36s, Boeing B-29 Superfortress and Akron airship.

Soviet TB-1 is the world's first serial all-metal bomber-monoplane, used as a carrier of light aircraft. The aircraft carrier received baptism of fire on July 26, 1941, when with his help the fighter-bombers finally "got out" the German oil storage in Constanta.

The project "Flying aircraft carrier" Rodina Vakhmistrova did not betray oblivion. In 1955, the USSR began work on the creation of a strategic strike system, which includes a supersonic bomber RS and a carrier aircraft Tu-95N.

It was assumed that the RS will be partially located in the cargo compartment of the aircraft carrier. The system was supposed to ensure the defeat of targets without entering the enemy's air defense zone and return to the airfield.

American Convair B-36 took part in the creation of a heavy bomber cover system, which provided for the transport of up to four lightweight fighters such as the McDonnell XF-85 Goblin.

However, due to the complexity of docking the fighter with the B-36, the project was closed in 1949. In addition, the US Air Force command found false targets-simulators, produced by a bomber in the event of an enemy aircraft attack, more effective than a combat fighter fighter.

Boeing B-29, the development of the 40-ies, provided for the carrying of two fighters. However, powerful twists on the ends of the wings of the B-29s led to a catastrophe, the project was closed, and the concept was recognized as dangerous.

American airship USS Akron 30-ies was one of the largest zeppelins in the world. It was able to transport up to five light aircraft, the task of which was reconnaissance.

Flying aircraft carriers of the future

The American and Soviet flying aircraft carriers, whose review is given above, fortunately, have not yet created precedents for their combat use, with the exception of the operation to destroy the oil storage in Constanta during the Second World War.

However, the idea of creating a flying aircraft carrier still excites the minds of designers.

For example, the Office of Advanced Planning for Defense Research in the USA (DARPA) launched the Gremlins program to develop UAVs capable of taking off from an aircraft carrier and returning to its board.