The Bomber That Swallowed a Jet Mid-Air

The B-36 Peacemaker was so massive it could literally swallow and deploy a full-sized jet fighter mid-flight.

Under the Cold War’s Project FICON, engineers built a deployable trapeze mechanism to winch the F-84 Thunderjet directly into the bomber’s bomb bay—turning a heavy bomber into a flying aircraft carrier.

Would you dare to dock with a bomber mid-flight? Let us know below!

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Sources: National Museum of the U.S. Air Force fact sheets ‘Republic RF-84K Thunderflash’, ‘Convair B-36J Peacemaker’ and ‘Convair GRB-36F Peacemaker’; U.S. Air Force history: Fairchild AFB, ‘The lost mission: Fairchild’s bombers and the FICON project’ (2015) and Air Force Test Center, ‘The FICON Project was Completed’ (27 Apr 1956).
Original 3D reconstruction of a GRB-36D and an RF-84K in natural metal; the trapeze, latches, bay and doors are simplified, the trapeze is shown raised and lowered hydraulically as in the sources, the beat-4 view is a cutaway, and timing, airspeed and propeller rates are illustrative — drawn, not simulated.

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