was to use the aeroplane to defend airships against the British seaplane patrols encountered over the North Sea. Although the single trial, made on 25 January 1918, was successful the experiments were not continued. On 12 December 1918, in a test to determine the feasibility of carrying fighter aircraft on dirigibles, the airship C-1 lifted a US Army Curtiss JN-4 aircraft to 2,500 feet over Fort Tilden, New York, and at that height released it for a free flight back to base. The airship was piloted by Lieutenant George Crompton, Dirigible Officer at NAS Rockaway, and the airplane by Lieutenant A. W. Redfield, USA, commander of the 52nd Aero Squadron based at Mineola (Long Island, NY). 1920s The British Imperial Airship Scheme of 1924 envisaged a commercial airship that could also carry five fighter aircraft if put into military use, but this requirement was abandoned. In 1925 first the DH.53 light aeroplane and then Gloster Grebes had been launched from the airship R.33. 1930s In 1930, the US Navy airship was used to test the trapeze system developed to launch and recover fixed wing aircraft from rigid airships. The tests were a success, and the purpose built airships and were designed to carry parasite aircraft inside a hangar bay within the hull. The airships could carry up to five single-seat Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawks for scouting or two-seat Fleet N2Y-1s for training. In 1934, two two-seat Waco UBF XJW-1 biplanes equipped with skyhooks were delivered to the USS Macon. The temporary system was removed from the Los Angeles, which never carried any aircraft on operational flights. In 1930, the Los Angeles also tested the launching of a glider over Lakehurst, New Jersey. Although operations of these parasite aircraft were quite successful, the ultimate loss of both airships (Akron in 1933 and Macon in 1935) put an end to the program. The first bombers to carry parasite fighters did so as part of the Zveno experiments carried out in the Soviet Union by Vladimir Vakhmistrov from 1931. Up to five fighters of various types were carried by Tupolev TB-1 and Tupolev TB-3 bombers. 1940s In August 1941, these combinations would fly the only combat missions ever undertaken by parasite fighters. TB-3s carrying Polikarpov I-16SPB dive bombers attacked the Cernavodă bridge and Constantsa docks, in Romania. After that, this squadron, based in the Crimea, carried out a tactical attack on a bridge over