experiments by incorporating an automatic flight control system. Meanwhile, as the modifications proceeded, additional test flights were made, including night flights. The automatic flight control modifications were ready for testing in March 1953, and a number of hookups were made with only one or the other of the F-84s while attempting to sort continuing electrical issues. On 24 April 1953, over Peconic Bay, New York State, the left-hand F-84 hooked up and the automatic system was activated. The F-84 immediately flipped over onto the wing of the B-29 and both crashed with loss of all five crew and the F-84 pilot. The pilot of the right-hand F-84D, Major Clarence E. "Bud" Anderson wrote of the Tip-Tow experiments in an article entitled Aircraft Wingtip Coupling Experiments published by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. Project Tom-Tom In parallel, a similar configuration, called Tom-Tom, was being developed using JRB-36F 49-2707, which was previously used in the early FICON trials and two RF-84F (serial numbers 51-1848 and 51-1849). The aircraft were attached wingtip-to-wingtip using articulated arms and clamps. Although several successful hookups were performed by Convair pilots Doc Witchell, Beryl Erickson, and Raymond Fitzgerald in 1956, turbulence and vortices continued to present a major problem. On 23 September 1956, RF-84F 51-1849, piloted by Beryl Erickson, was actually torn away from the right wing tip of the JRB-36F. All aircraft landed safely but the concept was deemed too dangerous. Developments in the area of inflight refueling at the time promised a much safer way of extending the range of the fighters and Project Tom-Tom was canceled. FICON concept Although the experimental McDonnell XF-85 Goblin escort fighter proved to be a failure, USAF believed that the bomber-borne fighter concept was still viable. Instead of escort, the focus had shifted to a strike role with a Convair B-36 Peacemaker carrying a Republic F-84 Thunderjet fighter. The plan was for the heavy bomber with superior range to arrive in the vicinity of the target and deploy a faster, more maneuverable F-84 to deliver the tactical nuclear bomb. The F-84 would then return to the "mothership" and be carried home. FICON testing A production RB-36F-1-CF Peacemaker (serial number 49-2707) was modified with a special trapeze mechanism in its bomb bay and designated GRB-36F, and a production F-84E Thunderjet (serial number 49-2115) was fitted with a retractable hook in the nose in front of the cockpit. The hook would