The McDonnell XF-85 Goblin

A member of the Check Your 6! Facebook group recently shared a post from a company called Geektown, a 3D print company. While Geektown offers merchandise that I am far from interested in, they do have a line called Hot Skies/Cold Seas that have a few oddball "could-have-been" aircraft that made it into the test phase but not into production. One of the offerings is a six pack of McDonnell XF-85 Goblins, a parasite fighter that was to be used to protect bombers during missions that would have been beyond the range of conventional fighters. The Goblin would be carried under the bomber, then launch when enemy aircraft were nearing the bomber formation. It would be retrieved by connecting to a trapeze via a retractable hook that extended in front of the canopy on the Goblin.

The use of parasite aircraft extended back to the Great War, with planes being considered for use under airships. The Unites States Navy did put the parasite idea into use during the 1930s on the airships Akron and Macon. During World War Two both the Soviets and the Germans toyed with parasite designs and testing, with the Soviets actually using parasites in 1941 to attack a bridge. The United States put out request for proposals in late 1942, but McDonnell that submitted a proposal concept.

The XF-85 was originally conceived as a piston engined fighter that would be carried partially exposed under a bomber, but the United States Army Air Force rejected this concept due to the increased drag caused by carrying the parasite. Future developments led to the Goblin being placed within the bomber's hold, and it was conceptualized that a B-36 could carry up to three Goblins, providing a sort of flying carrier to support the other bombers on any given mission.

However, the Goblin seemed destined for failure - the first prototype was accidently dropped from a height of forty feet during wind tunnel testing. Additional testing proved that the Goblin, while showing promise, would not be fast enough to deal with the generation of enemy jets it would face, and recovery of the parasite was problematic due to the buffeting of air around the bomber. Only a few successful hookups were completed during testing, and the program was canceled.

In Check Your 6! Jet Age terms I have cobbled together these stats:

There is an existing XF-85 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton.

Ohio Korean War Memorial

I did not realize that Dayton was home to the Ohio Korean War Memorial until stumbling upon it on the Historical Markers Database.  In looking at the pictures on the listing, I knew that it must be quite the memorial and so I took a quick drive north to go visit the location.  The memorial is just north of downtown, right along the Great Miami River, and is quite a beautiful location.  If you are ever in the area, particularly to visit the National Museum of the United States Air Force, the memorial is an easy ten minute drive from the museum.

Imagine being a POW at age 15 and being held captive for over two years!

Check Your 6! Game Day - Updated!

Check Your 6 and Check Your 6 Jet Age Game Day, June 28, 2014

From Tom Oxley....

Meet at the National Museum of the US Air Force as they open at 9:00 a.m. and wander through the museum – those who want to take a shuttle bus to the Presidential and Research & Development hanger should get signed in for that as soon as we get in to avoid missing a morning run.

Meet for lunch in the museum cafeteria at 11:30 for a quick lunch, then take time in the museum gift shop to look at toys, books and stuff there.

At around 1:00 p.m., we will head to Memorial Presbyterian Church, 1541 South Smithville Road and start setting up games, and start rolling the dice as soon as possible thereafter. 

Directions:

Click on picture for a larger version

Tentatively there are eight games scheduled: four World War II (Battle of Britain, Rabaul, Guadalcanal, and the Med), one Korean War, one '56 Arab-Israeli, one '65 Indo-Pakistani, and one Iran-Iraq War).

A Visit to the National Museum of the United States Air Force

I have been fortunate in many aspects of my life, with one of those fortunate aspects being my proximity to the National Museum of the United States Air Force (still known to me simply as the Air Force Museum).  The NMUSAF has been so within reach all these years that I have not appreciated the museum as I probably should, at least not until more recent times.  The museum has an amazing and ever expanding collection of aircraft as well as numerous displays.  I recently made a trip to see the Korean War gallery and take a few pictures to share with those readers of the blog who might not have had the chance to visit the museum.  Of course this trip was also for perusing their book store, which in its own right is an amazing place for air combat aficionados.  I did pick up two Osprey titles to expand my Korean air war library (F4U Corsair Units of the Korean War and F-86 Aces of the 51st Fighter Wing), and there were some other related items that looked good, but since I have been buying so many books and hobby "stuff" lately I held my eagerness in check a bit.

Here are the pictures from my quick trip: