Project GershwinIn the early
1943 and 1944 the British experimented with very heavy bombs(Tallboy
and Grand Slam) carried by Lancaster bombers. The USAAF also felt the
need for such a weapon but the Boeing B-17s did not have the power nor
the size to carry these large bombs. Therefore the USAAF looked for
other methods to carry a large bombload to a target. One of the
projects was a concept to mount a fighter aircraft on top of an
unmanned medium bomber. This was known as project Gershwin or
Mistletoe, a combination of two aircraft, one mounted on the other.
The
Mistletoe was the larger, unmanned component of a composite aircraft
configuration developed in the USA during the later stages of World War
II. The composite comprised a small piloted control aircraft mounted
above a large explosives-carrying drone, the Mistletoe, and as a whole
was referred to as the Gershwin Device or "Daddy and Son"
The most
successful of these used a modified North American B-25 bomber as the
Mistletoe, with the entire nose-located crew compartment replaced by a
specially designed nose filled with a large load of explosives, formed
into a shaped charge. The upper component was a fighter aircraft, often
a Curtiss P-40, joined to the Mistletoe by struts. The combination
would be flown to its target by a pilot in the fighter; then the
unmanned bomber was released to hit its target and explode, leaving the
fighter free to return to base. The first such composite aircraft flew
in July 1943 and was promising enough to begin a programme by USAAF
code-named "Gershwin", eventually entering operational service. The medium
bombers used were mostly combat-weary aircraft which were patched up
enough to fly one last mission. Often parts from multiple aircraft were
used to create one flyable airframe. Early experiments showed that just
stuffing the nose full of explosives did not direct enough of the blast
to the target, so special nose configurations were designed. At first,
a number of steel plates were welded over the nose and cockpit. Later
versions had a purpose designed hollow charge nose cone mounted on the
aircraft. The aircraft depicted here is one of the interim types with
the cockpit faired over.
Although
initial trials looked promising, when the devices were used
operationally their vulnerability quickly became apparent. The combined
device was a sitting duck for enemy fighters and when released the
bomber parts proved very hard to control by the pilot of the fighter. Of the 54
operational flights carried out from the UK, only 4 succeeded in
actually damaging their targets. Over 30 never reached their target
areas, being either shot down, crashing due to mechanical failures or
aborting back to base. The rest reached their targets but missed. After 6
months the program was aborted. A total of 83 Gershwin combinations
were produced. After the program was aborted all remaining devices were
scrapped.
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Last updated: 27/11/2017