the river Dnieper at Zaporozhye, which had been captured by advancing German troops. Later in World War II, the Luftwaffe experimented with the Messerschmitt Me 328 as a parasite fighter, but problems with its pulsejet engines could not be overcome. Other late-war rocket-powered projects such as the Arado E.381 and Sombold So 344 never left the experimental stage. By contrast, the Empire of Japan was able to get the Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka kamikaze rocket plane type into active service, typically using the Mitsubishi G4M (Betty) bomber class to carry them within range. However, their effectiveness proved minimal in part because Allied air naval defense took advantage of the weight of the parasitical aircraft payload slowing the carrying bombers, making them vulnerable to interception before the rocket plane could launch. 1950s During the early years of the Cold War, the United States Air Force experimented with a variety of parasite fighters to protect its Convair B-36 bombers, including the dedicated XF-85 Goblin, and methods of either carrying a Republic F-84 Thunderjet in the bomber's bomb bay (the FICON project), or attached to the bomber's wingtips (Project Tom-Tom). One configuration studied for the XF-85/B-36 combination was for a B-36 to drop the XF-85 for a dash across enemy territory for bombing or reconnaissance and for the pilot to hook onto a different B-36 on the other side of the enemy territory. These projects were all soon abandoned, partly because aerial refueling appeared as a much safer solution to extend the range of fighters. Drone motherships As of 2014, DARPA is working on a project to launch and recover unmanned aerial vehicles from larger aircraft. Examples Examples that have flown include: A Bristol Scout was flown from a Porte Baby to become the first parasite aircraft (1916) An Albatros D.III was flown from L 35 (LZ 80) to become the first parasite fighter flying from an airship (January 26, 1918) A Sopwith Camel was flown from airship HMA 23 (1918) A Sperry Messenger biplane was launched and recovered by non-rigid airships Tc-3 and Tc-7 (1923) Several DH 53 Hummingbird monoplanes were launched and recovered by airship R33 (1924), followed by two Gloster Grebe fighters (1925). A glider and a biplane were recovered by the USS Los Angeles. These were followed by the F9C Sparrowhawk escort fighter which flew operationally from USS Akron and Macon (1935). Ohka Rocket plane on the Mitsubishi G4M. Short