Composite aircraft

[2] The first composite aircraft flew in 1916, during World War I, when the British launched a Bristol Scout from a Felixstowe Porte Baby flying boat.

Experiments continued into the jet age, with large aircraft carrying fully capable parasite fighters or reconnaissance drones, though none entered service.

A composite configuration is usually adopted to provide improved performance or operational flexibility for one of the components, compared to a single craft flying alone.

The idea was briefly revived in 1925 when the airship R33 was used to launch and then recapture a DH 53 Hummingbird light monoplane aircraft and, in 1926, two Gloster Grebe biplane fighters.

Then in 1930, the US Navy fitted the USS Los Angeles with a trapeze designed to release and recover a small parasite aircraft.

Successful trials with a glider and a biplane led to the construction of the Akron and Macon airships as airborne aircraft carriers.

The Short Mayo Composite mailplane comprised the S.21 Maia carrier flying boat and S.20 Mercury parasite seaplane.

[3] The SPB variant used the Tupolev TB-3 as the mother ship and in 1941 Polikarpov I-16 dive-bombers flying from it became the first parasite fighters to see successfully operate in combat.

Other studies included the Daimler-Benz Project C. Experiments with parasite aircraft continued into the jet age, especially in America and, immediately post-war, in France as well for their own advanced jet and rocket-powered experimental designs - first achieved with the pair of postwar-completed Heinkel He 274 four-engined high altitude bomber prototypes, both built in France.

Examples with and without the FICON system included: Elsewhere, during the 1950s in the UK Short Brothers studied proposals for a composite VTOL strike fighter but the design did not progress.