F-85 Main Page

---

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 first such project involved the McDonnell XF-85, ordered October 9, 1945, a midget fighter designed to be carried within the B-36 bomb bay. Although two XF-85 prototypes were built and flight tested from a B-29B in August 1948, the concept did not prove practical.

In spite of that failure, Convair received a contract for a prototype FICON system to carry and retrieve a Republic F-84E single-seat fighter from a B-36. On January 19, 1951 RB-36F-1, 49-2707, was assigned for modification as the GRB-36F prototype and was able to make its first contact flight on January 9, 1952.

XF-85 Goblin

During the strategic air offensive against Germany during World War 11, the US Army Air Forces had faced serious and deadly opposition from Luftwaffe interceptors. To counter this threat, the development of long-range fighters to escort the bombers had become one of the USAAF's highest priority projects.

The wartime problem was solved by the development of longrange escort fighters, but as the war was ending, the USAAF was beginning to develop bombers such as the Boeing B-50 and Convair B-36, whose range was three to five times greater than that of the bombers that had been used against Germany. This necessitated the development of escort fighters capable of matching the longer range, a problematic situation which led to the consideration of other, more radical, solutions.

As early as the summer of 1944, when the USAAF was pondering its dilemma, the idea of developing an escort fighter that could be carried by a bomber was proposed. Even then, it really wasn't a new idea'. In the early 1930s Curtiss F9C-2 Sparrowhawk fighters had successfully conducted similar operations on a routine basis, flying from a 'trapeze' apparatus slung beneath the US Navy dirigibles Akron and Macon. The idea of conducting such operations from bombers flying at much higher speeds presented a great many additional problems. Not the least of these was the fact that the weight of the fighter would cut the bomb load proportionally. Future bombers, however, would be bigger, so if a fighter could be made smaller, a workable equation was theoretically possible.

Early in 1945, the USAAF's Air Technical Services Command (ATSC) began sounding out various airplane builders on the idea of building an ultra lightweight 'parasite' fighter that could be carried by the new, larger bombers that would be coming on-line in the late 1940s. McDonnell Aircraft of St Louis, a new, and certainly eager, company was willing to give it a try. McDonnell's original proposal was submitted in March 1945, and in October the USAAF ordered two prototypes under the designation XP-85, and with the stipulation that the resulting fighters had to fit entirely vi,ithin a B-36 bomb bay.

In September 1947, the USAAF became the US Air Force, and in July 1948, the latter took delivery of the first XP-85 at Muroc (now Edwards) AFB, which was redesignated XF-85 under the Air Force policy of designating fighters as fighters rather than as pursuit planes.

Two Goblins were built. Flight of the No. 1 aircraft was delayed by ground test damage, so on August 23, 1948, the No. 2 aircraft (S/N 46-524) made the first flight. The XF-85 on display (S/N46-523), the first Goblin built, made its first and only flight on April 8, 1949. It was transferred to the USAF Museum on August 23, 1950 after cancellation of the XF-85 program.

The XF-85, which was named Goblin because of James Smith McDonnell's belief in the spirit world, was the smallest jet fighter that would ever be built. It was a tiny, rotund creature that looked more like an amusement park airplane than a serious Air Force program. The Goblin was only 15 feet long, with a wingspan of 21 feet. Its gross weight was 5600 pounds. It was powered by a Westinghouse J34 turbojet, and could be launched at altitudes up to 48,200 feet. Its performance could thus be maximized, because - unlike most fighters - it wouldn't have to expend time and fuel getting to altitude.

In the proposed scenario, B-36s deep inside enemy territory would, upon encountering enemy interceptors, release a swarm of Goblins to chase them away. The F-85s would have a duration of an hour or more, which was considered adequate for the job. The Goblin would fit into a B-36, and it looked good on paper, but somehow the idea of F-85s chasing MiG-17s is somewhat surreal.

The first 'parasite -ready' B-36 wasn't yet available, so the XF-85 test flights, that began on 28 August 1948, were conducted from a B-29 fitted with the 'trapeze' that was designed for the B-36. There were only seven flights conducted, but the XF-85 pilot was able to reattach the Goblin to the trapeze in only three of these. In the cases of these aborts, he had to bring the tiny airplane in for belly landings because it was designed without landing gear.

By 1949, it had -become clear to the Air Force that parasite fighters would not be a practical solution to the escort fighter program, and on 24 October, the XF-85 program was terminated. Both prototypes were, however, preserv6d rather than being scrapped.

The Goblin lived and died in an era when the Air Force was keen to try anything. In any other time, it is doubtful that any funding -much less the $3 million that was actually spent on the XF-85 -could be found for such a project. In the end it was a marginally viable idea that was complicated by an airplane whose silly appearance no one could take seriously.

The XF-85 was first tested in August 1948 over the Mojave Desert. A B-29 carried it aloft and then extended the parasite on an elaborate 'trapeze.' The Goblin was then released to scamper home on its own. The XF-85 was designed to equip the giant B-36 bombers but was never carried by any aircraft other than a single B-29 which was the only aircraft ever equipped with an operational XF-85 trapeze.

---

The XF-85 Goblin resurrected the concept of a parasite fighter - an aircraft carried by and launched from a bomber for which it was intended to provide defence. Designed as the Model 27 under the leadership of Herman D Barkley, the XF-85 was intended to be carried by the Convair B-36 bomber and was the subject of a Letter of Intent for two prototypes on 9 October 1945. A small, egg-shaped aircraft with vertically-folding wings and triple vertical tail surfaces, the fighter was intended to be launched from and recovered by a retractable trapeze. This was to be extended beneath the parent bomber, no undercarriage being fitted to the fighter.

Goblin on a Clothespin!

Goblin in the Palm!

Now That's Small! Thanks to Peter Eveleigh for these Golin Pictures! (5/03)