747's as Aircraft Carriers? The Air Force and Boeing were thinking about it...

dvice - The Air Force's secret 1970s plan to use 747s as aircraft carriers

Flying aircraft carriers are staples science fiction and steampunk. It's an idea that sounds like it would be completely crazy in reality, but it's not crazy enough to keep the Air Force commissioning a report on the idea from Boeing back in 1973.

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By the 1970s, though, the Air Force was in need of "a versatile system with global range and supersonic performance" that could provide for a 24 hour strike capability anywhere on Earth. One option would have been to build air bases in Europe, Africa, and Asia, but the Air Force thought that it might make more sense to build mobile air bases instead, so it asked Boeing to take a look and see if turning 747s into aerial aircraft carriers was a possibility.

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The difference between an aerial aircraft carrier (AAC) and an aerial fuel tanker is that an AAC can rearm aircraft as well as refuel them, crews can switch out with each other, and it's even possible to perform repairs and maintenance on fighters. So obviously, an AAC would be pretty useful, but is it realistic? According to Boeing, definitely yes.

Boeing took their 747-400 and hollowed out the inside, leaving two decks worth of open space. It didn't make any significant structural modifications to the 747 airframe, meaning that fighter aircraft would have to fit within just over 17 feet of width. This, of course, necessitated designing an entirely new "microfighter," and Boeing drew up five concepts:

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How awesome would that have been (and kind of scary in a air-to-air or SAM environment)? What we need now is a dirigible version for drone swarms. Solar powered, massive payload, laser based missile defense... hum... sounds like a good science fiction novel idea... :)