What the Heck?

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Mistels are pretty well known but I've never seen this one until now:

he military glider DFS 230, which was used during the beginning of WW II to land soldiers (max. trooping load: 10) behind the enemy line, was also used in a rigid combination glider-tow plane. The tow plane was mounted on top of the glider. Several combinations were tested. Three combinations are known to. A Klemm Kl 35 (twin seated, low wing monoplane, open cockpit light trainer), a Focke Wulf Fw 56 "Stösser" (single seated, open cockpit, parasol wing monoplane) and a Messerschmidt Me Bf 109E were used as tow planes. The advantages of this combination is mentioned as a extension of the range of the glider.The combination also had less influence to bad wind conditions due to the lack of a loose cable between both.

more info:

JUNKERS JU 88 "MISTEL"
 

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Great pictures!

I'd be curious to know what the first test pilot thought when he was told he had to fly it.

Did the Allies have any aircraft arrangements like that? I've only seen the gliders towed by C47's.
 
There were lots of different kinds of Mistel projects. They pretty much tried different kinds of parent aircraft mating them with different kinds of "bomb" aircraft.
 
Thanks Adler,

Do you know if the Germans had any aircraft for carrying jet fighters? I'm thinking of the XF-85 "Goblin" set up for the B-36.
 
The concept of this was not to carry the fighter. The fighter or really any aircraft on the top of the "bomber" or "missile" was the parent aircraft and flew the "missile" to the target and then released it and guided it to the target.
 
The US tried a similar scheme with war worn B-24's (or B-17's) packed with explosives, except the pilot was to bale out shortly after takeoff and the plane was guided by another bomber (mother ship) by remote control aided with 2 TV view screens for cameras on the drone a/c.

It was this program that killed Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.

Operation Aphrodite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The other type of arrangement is the "parasite fighter" allowing small fighters to be taken far beyond their normal combat radius. There are also other such schemes with bombers ferrying recon craft and such to their target area.

Parasite aircraft - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
FICON project - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Flyboy2 said:
That seems like a really big load for an He-176! Wouldn't it like snap in half or something?
Click to expand...

I assume you mean the He 162. (the 176 was an experimental rocket plane designed as one of Heinkel's private high speed projects like the He 178 )
It wouldn't be carrying a heavy load really since, like in the case of other 'Mistel' a/c, the unmanned portion is powered separately with both a/c linked together. So the He 162 would be connected to and guiding it's bomb but not really "carrying" it in the same sense as a normal bomb.
 
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