I was surfing channels last night and a show called "Unbelievable Flying Objects" caugh my attention. It was on the Smithsonian Channel which is by far one of my favorite channels on TV. In short, the show featured the top ten most increbible planes/flying objects in history and to be completely honest with you I knew of all the planes they showed but one: the XF-85 Goblin (a.k.a. flying egg). WTH where they thinking? With all respect to engineers, pilots, and the pioneers of aviation...but seriously?!? I understand the vision behind the project, and please don't take me wrong here as I love aviation and its history, espcially the WWII era and beyond. See what really made this plane stick in my head is the "landing" procedure they described. So I thought I'd share with you all to get your thoughts on it.
Here is the link to the official site/full video: http://www.smithsoni...-flying-objects
And here is a link to some pics of the plane and the project itself: http://www.air-and-s...com/goblins.htm
Can you imagine being the pilot of this plane? Say, you're deployed (wait, "dropped") as planned; you successfully manage to defend the bomber that carried you by shooting down say one or two, or even three enemy fighters. Say you're still un-scratched...and now you have to "land" your plane under the belly of the bomber with that hook...and baam, the turbulence caused by the bomber throws you off, you try again, this time you get closer, but starting to run out of fuel, the pressure is on, and out of the blue an enemy fighter attacks the very bomber you're trying to latch on! Now what? You got no landing gear, little fuel, low in ammo and probably flying over enemy territory. Now what? (I'd say "bless your heart Ed Schoch"! for having the courage to get into that cockpit!)
Final thought, I'm gonna look for a model kit to build, gotta have this one on my desk!