Comments on: A sister to assist ‘er http://airminded.org/2007/04/18/a-sister-to-assist-er/ Airpower and British society, 1908-1941 Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:44:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Brett Holman http://airminded.org/2007/04/18/a-sister-to-assist-er/#comment-46837 Brett Holman Wed, 18 Apr 2007 04:22:45 +0000 http://airminded.org/2007/04/18/a-sister-to-assist-er/#comment-46837 Ah yes, <a href="http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/mistral.html" rel="nofollow">Mistel</a> -- good call! It's pretty close to a slip-wing in that it would be a biplane in aerodynamic terms, and the payload aircraft is slung underneath, not on top. I guess the main difference is in purpose -- the point of the pairing is not to boost the performance of one of the components but to act as a guidance/delivery system for a very big bomb. There's a list of parasite aircraft concepts at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasite_aircraft" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a> and another at <a href="http://www.nurflugel.com/Nurflugel/n_o_d/weird_05.htm" rel="nofollow">Nest of Dragons</a>. Ah yes, Mistel — good call! It’s pretty close to a slip-wing in that it would be a biplane in aerodynamic terms, and the payload aircraft is slung underneath, not on top. I guess the main difference is in purpose — the point of the pairing is not to boost the performance of one of the components but to act as a guidance/delivery system for a very big bomb.

There’s a list of parasite aircraft concepts at Wikipedia and another at Nest of Dragons.

]]> By: Paul Gilster http://airminded.org/2007/04/18/a-sister-to-assist-er/#comment-46781 Paul Gilster Tue, 17 Apr 2007 19:48:02 +0000 http://airminded.org/2007/04/18/a-sister-to-assist-er/#comment-46781 Brett, not the same concept, I realize, but didn't Focke-Wulf do some experiments with FW-190s and JU-88's in which the fighter was mounted above the bomber, the latter used as an unmanned flying bomb? I'm unaware, though, of any German efforts toward the slip-wing concepts the British were interested in. The Pemberton-Billing article was a real find! Brett, not the same concept, I realize, but didn’t Focke-Wulf do some experiments with FW-190s and JU-88’s in which the fighter was mounted above the bomber, the latter used as an unmanned flying bomb? I’m unaware, though, of any German efforts toward the slip-wing concepts the British were interested in. The Pemberton-Billing article was a real find!

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