2
The year is 1916; the newly conceived strategic bombers, far removed from the days of a beach on Kittyhawk a decade before, are flying into enemy territory attacking supply lines, troop reserves, and production facilities within reach. Penetrating further and further away from their home base thanks to their larger size and larger fuel reserves, the bombers are easy prey to the most advanced aircraft of the day: the fighter. All nations are struggling to figure out how to get the faster, more agile, less stable, and more critically, less-fueled fighters all the way to and from the critically dangerous mission targets to keep these slow behemoths from being slaughtered at the hands of their respective enemies. Enter His Majesty’s finest, always known to improve upon a design, to just slap their fighter on top of their heavy aircraft and conceivably carry it to the conflict. Thus the “parasite fighter” concept is born. This is not a story of wit and ingenuity ruling the day; because after thousands of hours spent refining the design over 42 years the parasite fighter’s finest day was the Project Tom-Tom RF-84 mounted in the fuselage of a modified B-36 intercontinental bomber before the parasite fighters concept died an inglorious death, surpassed by mid-air refueling and naval aircraft carrier capabilities.
Somewhere in that progression however a glimmer of hope was born in the McDonnell proposal for the US Air Force’s request to fit a B-36 with it’s own self-defense fighter. McDonnell proposed the tiny egg-shaped fighter we now as the XF-85 “Goblin” complete with a folding wing design for concealment inside the massive Peacekeeper, still in development itself. The idea was simple. Cram everything necessary into a cockpit on top of a Westinghouse XJ-34 jet engine, and give it ample flight surfaces to perform the necessary air combat maneuvering wherever the B-36 may be when she gets into trouble. On August 23, 1948 not even one year after gaining their independence from the United States Army, a USAF EB-29 fitted with a trapeze system and the XF-85 with McDonnell test pilot Edward Schoch took off to test the Goblin’s flight characteristics and trapeze system. The aircraft separated and flew quite well according to Schoch, until it came time to rejoin the mother ship...then things did not go so well. Shcoch hit wake turbulence and was unable to effectively latch back on his first two attempts. On the third attempt, Schoch applied too much power, and slammed the canopy into the trapeze system shattering the canopy. The aircraft was skillfully guided to an uneventful belly landing, as the Goblin was never designed to be on the ground without a transport dolly. After many successful fligths, the design was retired, and that was the end of the Goblin, set-aside for the RF-84 Tip-Tow and Tom-Tom programs which would then fail themselves due to aerial refueling.
Enter Wargaming 70 years later, and we now have a fully functioning pint-sized deviled egg complete with four Browning AN/M3 .50 caliber (half inch) machine guns and enough piss and vinegar to gnaw the ankles off any opponent that dares loiter in front of it for an extended period of time!
In a shocking turn Wargaming decided to make the XF-85 Goblin a tier 9 premium, the first of its kind outright sold for money; although it’s been hinted that there will also be or was also to be a mission set to receive the aircraft in much the same way as the Do 335 Pfeil or Curtiss XF-15C. The missions did not come to fruition as far as any of us can tell, but boy I tell you what...whip out the credit card, debit card, or gift card and purchase this bad boy while it’s available! She’s unique not only in her tier, but also in her sheer size and performance in game.
For starters, here’s her stats compared to the other tier 9 fighters, heavy fighters, and multirole fighters.
As you can see she’s on par with, or better, than her contemporaries.
The good:
She’ll turn with most everything with her 72 maneuverability rating giving her a 10 second turn and a roll rate that’d make Sean Tucker and his Oracle Challenger jealous.
She climbs like a homesick angel with her 174 m/s climb rate and feels very at home even in the yellow band on the altimeter.
She’s quick...even without being the quickest, and only having the standard 6 second boost, she will get you into and out of a bad jam in a hillbilly heartbeat; especially if with the engine tuning modification and skills.
The meh:
Her guns are...well, it’s the world’s okayest firepower at tier 9. Those AN/M3s, while faster firing than their ‘Ma Deuce’ counterparts, are not quite quick enough to knock down larger aircraft or planes that turn quickly. Use your mobility and speed as necessary to combat most aircraft because the guns are just...fine; but not just fine. They’re workable. The guns are workable, let’s put it that way.
The ugly:
Do not, I repeat, do NOT engage anything head on or spend a prolonged period in AAA or spend a lot of time behind large caliber tail gunners. The plane has a miniscule health pool available so make sure you’re in and out as quick as possible or maneuvering to maintain your hitpoints. I took improved covering for the 16 additional HP and because if you lose any part of your aircraft, you’re gonna have a bad day mmmkay?
There’s a small bit of contention between myself and another player on this one, but she doesn’t seem to have much carry potential. For all my efforts recording footage for the video, there were 8 losses before I finally netted a win. Even with her speed and climb performance as good as they are, the lack of hitpoints means if you find yourself in a red swarm, you’ll be looking at a respawn timer again and again.
Overall:
8 out of 10 absolute must buy. Aside from the unique nature of the XF-85, she’s a tier 9 crew trainer that absolutely prints credits. On my most mediocre games (3800 points I’m not proud) I was still making well over 100k credits. She’s tremendously fun and you can’t help but see those little egg shaped kiddie toys when you fly it. Buy it for the history, buy it for the credits, buy it because you like the camo...whatever you do, just buy it!
Edited by Lambo805, 26 April 2018 - 02:20 PM.
