The McDonnell XF-85 Goblin was a fighter aircraft, conceived during World War II and intended to be carried in the bomb bay of the giant Convair B-36 bomber as a defensive "parasite fighter" and released and retrieved in mid-air. Because of its small and rotund appearance, it was nicknamed "The Flying Egg".
In March 1947 two prototypes were ordered with the first of these making its debut flight on the
23 August 1948, launched from a Boeing EB-29B ‘Motherplane’. Testing soon revealed that the concept was extremely flawed as a result of turbulence from the bomber creating difficult handling problems. In the course of just 2 hours and 19 minutes of test flights the XF85 would make three crash-landings and this, coupled with the realisation that such a small fighter would never have the speed or manoeuvrability to fulfil its interceptor role, would lead to an early abandonment of the project.
