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Description
| Manufacturer: | McDonnell |
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| Base model: | F-85 | ||
| Designation: | XF-85 | ||
| Nickname: | Goblin | ||
| Designation System: | U.S. Air Force | ||
| Designation Period: | 1948-Present | ||
| Basic role: | Fighter | ||
| Status: | Experimental | ||
| First Flew: | 1948/08/23 | ||
| See Also: | |||
Specifications
| Length: | 14' 10.5" | 4.5 m | |
| Height: | 8' 3.25" | 2.5 m | |
| Wingspan: | 21' 1.5" | 6.4 m | |
| Wingarea: | 90.0 sq ft | 8.3 sq m | |
| Empty Weight: | 3,740 lb | 1,696 kg | |
| Gross Weight: | 4,550 lb | 2,063 kg | |
Propulsion
| No. of Engines: | 1 | ||
| Powerplant: | Westinghouse J34-WE-37 | ||
| Thrust (each): | 3,000 lb | 1,360 kg | |
Performance
| Max Speed: | 664 mph | 1,069 km/h | 577 kt |
Examples of this type may be found at
| Museum | City | State |
| Strategic Air Command Museum | Ashland | Nebraska |
| United States Air Force Museum | Wright-Patterson | Ohio |
XF-85 on display
Strategic Air Command Museum |
Recent comments by our visitors
| Nathan W , GA | This is the UGLIEST Plane I've ever seen!!! 06/18/2008 @ 07:26 [ref: 21543] |
| Topgun10 mineola, TX | I've read about this aircraft.It's down in the worlds most worst aircraft book 01/29/2008 @ 17:25 [ref: 19467] |
| c cooper , OR | the xf-85 goblin was the smallest jet-powered fighter ever, it was only flown by Ed Scoch, and was found to be very stable unless it was hooking up or unhooking; an obvious result of heavy turbulence from the b-29 motherplane. except for its lack of landing gear and small cockpit, I wouldn't mind having one. the biggest issues were its performance, only 638 mph, and the lack of heavy armament, only 4 .50 cal mgs, the government also pulled funding from the project. if anyone knows where I can get blueprints for the original, share it with the world. 03/07/2006 @ 20:54 [ref: 12724] |
| Frank B. Sonnier Lafayette, LA | The Goblin was a well handling aircraft. The test pilots liked to fly it, it turned well, climbed well, and had good spin recovery. The problem was in recovery. Due to air turbulence under the mother aircraft, the XF-85 became very unstable. The winglets were added but did not solve the problem. Experiecned test pilots had a lot of trouble in recovery. Given this, the average squadron pilot would find it almost impossible to return to the B-36. Recovery problems and the advent of mid-air refueling ended this project, not the design of the short fuselage. 04/22/2004 @ 17:16 [ref: 7265] |
| John Shaft , MD | The XF-85 was an ingenious idea but it was found that the
extremely short fuselage made it very difficult to control. The idea and both prototypes were cancelled, mostly because of this and the coming disbandment of the B-36 it was to serve. The fighter likely would have been armed with 2 to 4 20mm cannon and no ordnance. 04/23/2001 @ 17:56 [ref: 2142] |
| Dagoberto G. Flores Lozano Leon,GTO, OTH | The F-85 was designed as a defense parasite fighter to defend the very large XB-36. It would detach ("take off") from the B-36 bomb bay. I suppose it would return thru hook.
Another example of the idea was the Akron & Macon Zeppelins that would also carry their own fighters. 09/18/2000 @ 03:32 [ref: 765] |
Recent photos uploaded by our visitors
