British 'Mistel' combination projects.

lark

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Is there anyone who haves more info or illustrations about the

Hawker Hurricane /Armstrong Whitworth Whitley
and-or
Hawker Hurricane/Consolidated B-24

pick-a-back combinations , suggested in Great Britain at the beginning of WW II to counter
the attacks of the Focke-Wulf Condors in the North West Atlantic.

The idea is mentioned in 'Mistel-German composite aircraft and operations 1942-1945'
Robert Forsyth-Classic Publication 2001.
 
Interesting illustration Justo.Much thanks.

It seems that Short and Folland each produced shemes
in 1939 for a single engined bomber as upper component
for a composite...
I have ,for the moment, no info of the lower component.
 
Apparently both the pick-a-back and the towed systems were left aside when it was discovered that the Merlin iced up and would not start after prolonged inactivity at high-altitude (Air Enthusiast No. 87 May/June 2000).
There is a book about the subject, "Hurricane special" by D.P. Broer http://www.amazon.com/review/R31B3AVH50FTC
 
Thanks for the hint.Search for the book is on ;)
 
Just for the reccord:
'Hurricane Special' is written by Maurice L.Allward.

Mr. Broer was the reviewer.
 
Futher to this, I'm not sure if this has been posted as I did do a quick search, but there was a proposal I came across to help ferry Hamilcar gliders using a P-38 clamped onto the top. I came up with a rough mockup of what this might look like, although obviously the clamping section would have been probably much neater than my design!
 

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Ref post #1

On a composite scheme the engines of the upper aircraft, in this case a Hurricane, would be kept running so icing and engine starting were not an issue. A Hurricane had been allocated for modification by Hawker with a larger oil tank to allow for exended engine running and fuel system that could draw petrol from the lower aircraft (both approved by Rolls-Royce), but the project was cancelled at the end of March 1941 before a Liberator had been provided to Short to be adapted as the carrier.

The composite was not intended to provide bomber escort but for marine patrol over the Atlantic.
 
From J.E.Mrazek, "Kampfsegler im 2. Weltkrieg" (Assault glider in WW II) a drawing of the
proposed Hamilcar/P-38 combination:
 

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Thanks Jemimba, glad it was not something from my imagination!!
 
That's very generous of you Jemiba, however they are not so much 'unrealised' as completely fictional :). As are the other ones posted yesterday, so they should all be in Alternate History and Future Speculation

Done !
 
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