Composite aircraft A composite aircraft is made up of multiple " component " craft . It takes off and flies initially as a single aircraft , with the components able to separate in flight and continue as independent aircraft . Typically the larger aircraft is the " carrier " , with the smaller often a " parasite " or " jockey " craft . The first composite aircraft flew in 1916 , when the British launched a Bristol Scout from a Felixstowe Porte Baby flying boat . During the Second World War some composites saw operational use . Experiments continued into the jet age , with jet bomber s carrying fully capable parasite fighters . Design principles . A composite configuration is usually adopted to provide increased performance for one of the components , compared to a single craft flying alone . Composite designs can take a number of different forms : In the original composite arrangement , a small craft carrying out the operational mission is mounted on a larger carrier craft . Thus it need not be compromised by the requirements for takeoff , climb and initial cruise , but may be optimised for the later stages of the mission . In another form the larger " carrier aircraft " or " mother ship " carries out the operational mission , with small " parasite " or " jockey " carried to support or protect it if required . A variant of this comprises a small piloted component coupled with a larger unpiloted component , typically used as an attack aircraft in which the larger component is loaded with explosives and impacts the target . The " slip - wing " composite comprises a lightweight upper lifting component , the slip wing , which assists the lower operational component during initial takeoff and climb : in the true slip - wing , the two wings act together as a biplane . The slip wing component may or may not be powered and / or manned . Airship - plane composites . During and after World War I , a number of efforts were made to develop airship - plane composites , in which one or more aeroplanes were carried by an airship . Britain . The first British effort , undertaken in 1916 with a non - rigid SS class airship , was aimed at the anti - Zeppelin role . The airship was to provide fast climb to altitude , while a B . E . 2c aeroplane would provide the speed and manoeurvability to attack the Zeppelin . It ended in disaster when the forward attachment point released prematurely and the aeroplane tipped nose - down . Both crew were killed in the ensuing disaster . By 1918 larger rigid airships were available and a Sopwith Camel was successfully released by HMA 23 in July 1918 , but the armistice halted work . 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 . Germany . The first parasite fighter was a German Albatros D . III which flew from Zeppelin L 35 ( LZ 80 ) in January 26 , 1918 . The LZ 129 Hindenburg later conducted trials using parasite aircraft in the days before it crashed at Lakehurst , but the trial proved unsuccessful as the plane hit the hull trapeze . USA . In 1923 the Tc - 3 and Tc - 7 non - rigid airships launched and recovered a Sperry Messenger biplane . Then in 1930 , American US Navy trials successfully recovered a glider and a biplane using a trapeze fitted to the USS Los Angeles . Subsequently the airships Akron and Macon were constructed with such trapezes and also onboard hangars to house up to four fixed - wing aircraft . The F9C Sparrowhawk reconnaissance fighter was specially designed for this role and served on both types . Operations ran from 1931 to 1935 . WWII studies . During the 1940s a variety of alternate plans were studied . A popular proposal was a rigid runway situated on the top of the dirigible for both take off and landings of planes , and an elevator to move the aircraft into the hangar located inside the main assembly . This would allow a relatively innocuous vehicle to field a large amount of aircraft . These plans were abandoned due to weight / lift ratio of the dirigible and the lost internal gas space ( thus reducing the lift ) due to the installation of a large hangar . Composite aeroplanes . The first composite aeroplanes . In parallel with early airship activity , efforts also went into carrying a fighter plane aloft on top of a second aeroplane . In the UK , the Felixstowe Porte Baby / Bristol Scout composite flew in May 1916 . The idea was to intercept German Zeppelin airships far out to sea , beyond the normal range of a land or shore based craft . The successful first flight was not followed up , due to the ungainliness of the composite in takeoff and its vulnerability in flight . From 1921 , a series of types were adapted as carriers for gliders used as aerial targets . The Short Mayo Composite mailplane comprised the S . 21 " Maia " carrier flying boat and S . 20 " Mercury " parasite seaplane . It made successful transatlantic flights in trials during 1938 , before operations were cut short by the outbreak of war . World War II . Several countries experimented with composite designs during the second world war , and a few of these were used on operational missions . In the USSR , the Tupolev Vakhmistrov Zveno project developed a series of composite types . 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 . In the UK , Pemberton - Billing proposed " slip - wing " composite bomber and fighter types , early in the war . Hawker ' s also worked on a Liberator / Hurricane composite . In America in 1943 , O . A . Buettner patented a composite design in which the secondary fighter components ' wings fitted into depressions in the carrier ' s upper wing . A number of composite proposals were considered by German designers during World War II . Of these , the Junkers Ju 88 Mistel project reached operational status , mounting either a manned Messerschmitt Bf 109 or Focke - Wulf Fw 190 fighter above an unmanned explosives - packed Junkers Ju 88 and flying a number of combat missions . The " führungsmaschine " ( pathfinder ) project used a similar Ju 88 / FW 190 combination where the Ju 88 was also manned and the FW 190 carried as a protective escort fighter . The Dornier Do 217 / Messerschmitt Me 328 escort fighter project was unsuccessful due to engine problems . Other studies included the Daimler - Benz Project C . Postwar . 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 . In America the FIghter CONveyer ( FICON ) trapeze system was developed for carrying , launching and recovering parasite fighter s . Examples with and without the FICON system included : Elsewhere , during the 1950 ' s in the UK Short Brothers studied proposals for a composite VTOL strike fighter but the design did not progress . In modern times the term " composite aircraft " tends to refer to types constructed from composite materials . The White Knight / Space Ship One spaceplane is a composite aircraft in both senses .