Piggyback Airplanes
Ten of aviation's most famous hitch-hikers.
- By Lynn Keillor
- Air & Space magazine, July 2012
Courtesy Military Modelling
Hitchhiker: Messerschmitt Me 328
Mothership: Dornier Do 217E Germany, 1941
It was the midst of World War II, and the Nazi Luftwaffe had a secret: P.1079—code for the Messerschmitt Me 328 parasite guard bombers.
According to Hans Ebert’s book on Willy Messerschmitt, the aviation designer submitted plans for the aircraft to Germany’s ministry of aviation, claiming Adolf Hitler told him, “If we had 200 bombers capable of day-time targeted bombing raids, England would already be finished.” The Messerschmitt corporation received a contract for three variations of the Me 328, and started work on them in September 1941.
However, it probably would have been best for the Germans if the Me 328 had remained a secret. Design flaws and dwindling war resources left the airplane an embarrassing footnote to the Luftwaffe effort.
The single-seat Me 328s were budget aircraft based on glider designs. They were built mainly of wood and rang up at only a quarter of the cost of conventional fighters—about 2,000 Reichmarks, or $800 at the time.
The Me 328 needed help getting off the ground, so the Germans mounted the 22-foot fighter atop the more powerful Dornier Do 217E, resting it squarely above the wing section, with tubular metal structures propping up the smaller airplane’s wings and tail.
One variation of the parasite used two Argus AS 014 pulse-jet engines, which could propel it up to 572 mph. “One of the significant lessons learned with the Me 328: A pulse-jet engine is not optimal for an airplane because of the intense vibrations,” says Hans Holzer, the curator of aeronautics for Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany.
The engine was its ultimate undoing: Two Me 328A’s went down during testing, when their wooden frames could not withstand the noise and vibrations. Engineers tried to solve the problem by mounting the engines underneath the airplane’s wings, but the vibration troubles persisted.
Though original plans called for building 1,000, the airplanes did not make it into production, nor did any see action. The project was suspended in 1944, though planning continued for new variations at Hitler’s request.
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Comments (8)
In 1957 I was the co-pilot on a SA-16A (Grumman Albatross)
Air Rescue Service amphib for a trans-Atlantic crossing, with a stop half-way across in the Azores. We were ferrying the aircraft from Wheelus AFB, Tripoli,back to the Grumman factory where the A/C would be overhauled and upgraded to a B model. If my memory is correct, the leg from the Azores to Argentia, NewFoundland took about 14 hours. That airplane could carry a lot of gas! That was the longest flight I can recall, with the possible exception of a LHR-LAX or a JFK-TelAviv nonstop when I was a TWA 747 Captain.
Posted by William Polk on May 23,2012 | 04:21 PM
I've read in some sources about an alleged fifth operational D-21 flight? Is there any truth to this? If so, what happened to it?
Posted by Gray Stanback on May 23,2012 | 06:41 PM
In the late 1950's I was in SAC 92nd bomb wing. On our base we had a reconnaissance squadron flying B-36R's. The B-36 was towed over a pit in the pit was an F-84R. The F-84 was attached to the bomber and raised up partially into the special bomb-bay. The F-84 was launched and retrieved in flight on the trapeze. The F-84 could be refueled and the film canisters changed in flight. There was even a film processing lab in the rear of the B-36.
We later had U-2's and the need for the tandem B-36 and F-84 was no longer needed.
Posted by JIm Fling on May 24,2012 | 05:14 PM
A specialized aircraft was designed and built to be uniquely carried by the B-36 internally, supposedly for defensive purposes. My recollection was it was built by McDonnell and designated XF-85.
Posted by Kendall Russell Maj Gen USAF (ret) on May 25,2012 | 04:44 PM
In the summer of 1953 following my Midshipman Cruise to Rio, I worked as Assistant PR Director of the first Dayton Air Show. When the Show began, I squired around Howard Sochurek and Marshal Lumsden of Life Magazine. I was able to get the three of us on board a modified B-36 that had its own fighter escort (F-84) join up at 10,000 feet, hook it to its boom and pull the fighter into the bomb bay. Howard and I took many pictures of the event from both the bomb bay and the blisters in the aft fuselage. The Air Force insisted on processing the film and the pictures never appeared in Life as the Air Force claimed that they showed too much secret equipment.
Posted by John B. Neff on May 26,2012 | 11:50 PM
There was also the German Mistel piggyback project that saw limited operatons late in WWII.
In a sense, the X-1, X-2, X-15 and some other experimental aircraft followed the piggyback concept. Only the X-1 was capable of taking off from the ground (and it did it only once) so they needed to be carried to altitude by a bomber.
Posted by Larry J on May 31,2012 | 01:20 PM
I was born in Dundee, and remember my Dad telling me how he had seen Mercury and Maia on the Tay. He could only have been 11 at the time, but was still excited at the memory. I was delighted to find a compilation of Newsreels on You Tube showing the aircraft, including them taking off from Dundee for the flight to South Africa - wonder where Dad was watching them from, and if he's in the background somewhere.
Link to the newsreels:
http://youtu.be/bYtazEBQ1K8
Posted by Mike Brand on June 17,2012 | 07:49 PM
Well, I'm not sure if this could be a piggyback "airplane", but the shuttle Enterprise was piggybacked to a 747 and a least one time separated in flight to test the feasibility of the landing procedure of the space shuttle.
Posted by Fernando on January 23,2013 | 04:35 AM