And did any other foreign powers ever consider this?
Nobody ever created a flying carrier however the closest thing were dirigibles and blimps that could carry aircraft in pods but they were impractical for actual war but in war so many fantastical things were thought of from Ice Carriers made of Pykrete(paper and ice) of which several small samples were made and actual money allocated to this.
Other items thought of included submarines that could launch aircraft which the Japanese actually built but was too late in the war to be useful or practical. Flying wings which the Germans, British and Americans were looking into and I believe the Germans made some prototypes.
Using legendary artifacts of history like the ark of the covenant and the Holy Lance. The Nazis spent exorbitant amounts of money and expeditions looking for religious and occult artifacts to which they could use in the war.
There was even talk of a bridge from England to France later in the war.
Nothing was or is off the table when it comes to warefare even today electromagnetic canons, giant lasers, plasma canons and even sci-fi weaponry has been floated around or even built.
1 Like
What would they classify the Zveno-SPB as then if not a first generation flying aircraft carrier? Or where these planes a soviet propaganda stunt?
In a way they would be classed as aircraft carriers and had been proven successful to a degree but much like the dirigibles and blimps they had flaws.
Only 6 were ever operational however in 1941 they proved that the flying aircraft carrier worked carrying out between 30-40 missions all of which were successful but they were hard to build and maintain and required powerful engines to lift these lumbering giants into the sky and often required the 5 or 6 planes it carried to help lift it off the ground by running their engines as well. The planes they carried were designed to re-attach to the mothership but rarely did because you required very skilled pilots and nerves of steel.
The flaws were many unfortunately the planes were outdated and no match for the powerful German aircraft. The motherships were slow and lumbering and had a low flight ceiling and were basically flying fuel tanks. The “carrier” planes carried two 250 kilogram bombs and often had limited ammunition for weight requirements. Many pilots refused to try to reattach to the mothership as it was very risky and many of their missions were carried out at night so reclaiming the planes was not very feasible in the dark.
Also to load the 5-6 aircraft required well over 200 ground crews and had to be done in the open as no hanger existed to load in safety and they required good airfields to land and take off from.
In the end the program was scrapped in 1942 due to the war on the eastern front and limited capabilities of the flying carriers.
after the war the Americans and British did several tests of flying carriers but all were ultimately scrapped due to costs and modern warfare advancing faster than the tests could keep up with.
2 Likes