page_title: Mother ship
section_title: Parasite carriers
hierarchical_section_title: Mother ship / Aircraft / Parasite carriers
caption_attribution_description: Project MX-1016 Tip Tow: A Boeing ETB-29A (s/n 44-62093) with two Republic EF-84D Thunderjet fighters on 20 October 1950. This photo is NOT of Project Tom Tom as the photo title states. Project Tom Tom utilized a Convair B-36 and two Republic RF-84F Thunderflash aircraft, and was also a "tip tow" experiment. One of the more interesting experiments undertaken to extend the range of the early jets in order to give fighter protection to the piston-engined bombers, was the provision for in-flight attachment/detachment of fighter to bomber via wingtip connections. One of the several programs during these experiments was MX106 done with a B-29 mother ship and two F-84D "children", and was code named "Tip Tow" (not Tom Tom as stated above) A number of flights were undertaken, with several successful cycles of attachment and detachment, using, first one, and then two F-84s. The pilots of the F-84s maintained manual control when attached, with roll axis maintained by elevator movement rather than aileron movement. Engines on the F-84s were shut down in order to save fuel during the "tow" by the mother ship, and in-flight engine restarts were successfully accomplished. The experiment ended in disaster during the first attempt to provide automatic flight control of the F-84s, when the electronics apparently malfunctioned. The left hand F-84D-1-RE 48-641 rolled onto the wing of the B-29, and the connected aircraft both crashed with loss of all onboard personnel. The pilot of the right-hand F-84D-1-RE 48-661 wrote of the Tip-Tow experiments in an article entitled Aircraft Wingtip Coupling Experiments published by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. The photo above was taken during the longest "hookup" on 20 October 1950.
context_page_description: A mother ship, mothership or mother-ship is a large vehicle that leads, serves, or carries other smaller vehicles. A mother ship may be a maritime ship, aircraft, or spacecraft.
  Examples include bombers converted to carry experimental aircraft to altitudes where they can conduct their research, or ships that carry small submarines to an area of ocean to be explored.
  A mother ship may also be used to recover smaller craft, or go its own way after releasing them.
  A smaller vessel serving or caring for larger craft is usually called a tender.
context_section_description: Some large long-range aircraft have been modified as motherships in order to carry parasite aircraft which support the mothership by extending its role, for example for reconnaissance, or acting in a support role such as fighter defence.
  The first experiments with rigid airships to launch and recover fighters were carried out during World War I.
  The British experimented with the 23-class airships from that time. Then in the 1920s, as part of the "Airship Development Programme", they used the R33 for experiments. A de Havilland Humming Bird light aeroplane with a hook fitted was slung beneath it. In October 1925 Squadron Leader Rollo Haig, was released from the R33, and then reattached. Later that year, the attempt was repeated and the Humming Bird remained attached until the airship landed.
  In 1926, it carried two Gloster Grebe fighters releasing them at the Pulham and Cardington airship stations.
  In America, USS Los Angeles (ZR-3), used for prototype testing for the Akron and Macon airborne aircraft carriers.
  During World War II the Soviet Tupolev-Vakhmistrov Zveno project developed converted Tupolev TB-1 and TB-3 aircraft to carry and launch up to five smaller craft, typically in roles such as fighter escort or fighter-bomber.
  During the early days of the jet age, fighter aircraft could not fly long distances and still match point-defence fighters or interceptors in dogfighting. The solution was long-range bombers that would carry or tow their escort fighters.
  The later American FICON-equipped modified B-36 Peacemaker bombers. The B-29 Superfortress and B-36 bombers were tested as carriers for the RF-84K Thunderflash (FICON project) and XF-85 Goblin fighters.
  In November 2014, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) requested industry proposals for a system in which small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) would be launched and recovered by their existing conventional large aircraft, including the B-52 Stratofortress and B-1 Lancer bombers and C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster III transports.
caption: Project Tip-Tow: Boeing B-29 with Republic F-84 Thunderjet
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