THE BOEING 747 AAC
By: Abhijay Bhosale
Welcome to 3rd edition of the Unknown Off-Ground Series. This week's edition will show the Boeing 747-Airborne Aircraft Carrier. When the 747 was first made, it was unlike the world had ever seen before. With 4 enormous engines, it could travel distances previously unimaginable for its size. It revolutionized civilian travel, but the Air Force had other ideas. Sure they could have thought of any normal cargo plane, but they already had plenty of those. One day, Boeing saw potential for a plane that would captivate the Air Force. An airborne aircraft carrier. Sure they had ships which could carry squadrons around the coasts, but a fighter's limited range meant they couldn't penetrate deep into enemy territory without an airfield. But with this new inter-continental plane, this was now possible. This is, the Boeing 747-AAC.
Why Was The Boeing 747-AAC Made
The origins of the Boeing 747-AAC are shrouded in mystery. Even the inventor isn't known, and searching up "Boeing 747-AAC" leads to vague websites and results, or sometimes have nothing relevant at all. For this, we just need to look at politics at the time. When the 747 made its first flight, it was the year the Soviet Union fell. The unrest between countries and the delicate social structure had a good chance of war. But being separated on its own continent, the US had to transport most of its power to other counties, valuable time that could let their adversaries prepare for the conflict. Russia had air defense systems and a powerful ground army, but the US had an undoubtable air superiority advantage. The problem was, their fighters couldn't travel across an ocean, deliver a payload or cover, and then return. They had conventional aircraft carriers that could go to any coast, and while they had more advanced fighters, their range was severely limited. So, after Boeing heard the Air Force's interest in their 747, they proposed a plan. Attach some planes into a flying object.
This wasn't the first time the US had made an airborne aircraft carrier, though. The USS Akron was a blimp (referred to as an airship as the text continues) fitted with a parasite fighter that could attack to it. The airship speeds and stability made it easy for fighter to disembark and embark onto it, but the airship itself had major liabilities. The fact it was an airship meant that it was a giant target and easy to shoot down. It also relied entirely on air and didn't use wings and speed to keep it afloat. This airship could have never been used in a serious conflict. Although helium is chemically stable, its weight lead the USS Akron only able to fly in good non-windy weather. A fatal mistake proved just how careful you had to be commandeer this vessel. Off the coast of New Jersey on April 4th, 1933, poor weather conditions caused the airship to crash into the ocean. Some speculate a strong downdraft blew the tail of the airship into the sea, it's possible that the difficult handling of the airship meant the captain simple drove it into the water. With the loss of the 5 planes carried in the blimp, it proved too costly in both mortality and cost. Thus ended the airship concept. The Boeing 747-AAC was meant to make a comeback. With new technology in arm, it finally made the dream of an AAC possible and viable.
USS Akron:
Boeing 747-AAC:
The Model 985-121
A parasite fighter is a plane that can fit inside another one. A normal plane's efficiency and capabilities far exceed the average parasite fighter, but those planes are too heavy and bulky for them to be put inside an AAC. This meant to make the 747-AAC, Boeing would also needed to make parasite fighters to put into the craft. They would design the Model 985-121. With a wingspan of ~18.5 feet, it would've be designed to have a head to head fight against a Mig-21. Planned to have have two 20mm guns and 2 hard points (places for bombs/missiles), each plane would have 10 of these carried with them, it could deliver air superiority to any place within the 747's range. The delta wing design also made it easier to fly and manufacture, while it also had wing tips that extended above and below the plane for stability. The way they got off the plane was by being loaded into a launch bay, where it would then be exited out of the plane using an extendable boom (an extendable stick that connects on top of the lane. To get back in, the parasite fighters could attach onto a plane by the refueling boom. In combat, a fighter could come back and then immediately depart, but to go back in the plane or repair the plane mid-combat, the refueling boom could be extended back into the plane into the recovery bay. Making the plane was as important as the making the 747-AAC itself, and the plane sure delivered.
Why The Boeing 747-AAC Failed
The concept was amazing. Everything was perfect on paper. But that's the thing, it was on paper. When Boeing submitted their entry, it was 60 pages long, and while informative, wasn't enough to make something so ambitious. Plus, the reason it had no flaws was because it was never made. It would be easy to show something as perfect if it was never made. Plus, the field had changed to be built. One thing that wasn't mentioned was that the Air Force actually took a long time to look at it. In fact, they dismissed the idea when it was first submitted, but when they revisited the idea, it was with a completely different plane. After getting Boeing on board with building it, they took the 747 concept back and tried to build it with that, saying it had more range and speed. But the microfighters on the plane were now outclassed by now. The Mig-21 was no longer a formidable opponent, and the planes couldn't compete. The future of the AAC concept lies unknown, with some sources saying that the US plans on building one with drones instead of fighter planes, but the Boeing 747-AAC was nonetheless a great attempt at making a future that might be accomplished one day.
Post-Script
The last 2 editions and this one are all about taking to the skies, but what about the opposite of that. Remember, this series is called "Unknown Off-Ground", so anything that doesn't travel on the earth's rigid body is fair game. This edition was about an aircraft carrier in the skies, but what about one underwater. Made during WW2, it could have changed the tide of the war had the US not dropped a super weapon on Japan. This, is the I-400 Class Submarine.
Comments
Post a Comment