Boeing Said the Flying Aircraft Carrier Was "Feasible." Here's Why It Died.

In 1973, Boeing delivered a funded Air Force study for a 747 that carried ten "microfighters" inside its fuselage — launched and recovered mid-air through a belly hatch, with 44 crew living aboard. The study's conclusion: technically feasible. This documentary explains why it was never built: the 1973 basing crisis that inspired it, the two-deck hangar design and the microfighter species, the three assassins that killed it (vulnerability, the F-16, cheaper incumbents), the jumbo's bizarre military resume (doomsday planes, shuttle carriers, the flying laser), and how DARPA's Gremlins drones finally built the flying carrier — fifty years later, without pilots. CHAPTERS 00:00 The drawings in the Boeing archive 03:30 Why: 1973's three crises 07:10 The design: hangar decks & microfighters 11:00 Why not: the three assassins 14:40 The 747's secret military resume 18:20 Every objection expired: the drone age