Project MX-1016 Tip Tow: A Boeing ETB-29A (s/n 44-62093) with two Republic EF-84D Thunderjet fighters on 20 October 1950.
This photo is NOT of Project Tom Tom as the photo title states. Project Tom Tom utilized a Convair B-36 and two Republic RF-84F Thunderflash aircraft, and was also a "tip tow" experiment.
One of the more interesting experiments undertaken to extend the range of the early jets in order to give fighter protection to the piston-engined bombers, was the provision for in-flight attachment/detachment of fighter to bomber via wingtip connections. One of the several programs during these experiments was MX106 done with a B-29 mother ship and two F-84D "children", and was code named "Tip Tow" (not Tom Tom as stated above) A number of flights were undertaken, with several successful cycles of attachment and detachment, using, first one, and then two F-84s. The pilots of the F-84s maintained manual control when attached, with roll axis maintained by elevator movement rather than aileron movement. Engines on the F-84s were shut down in order to save fuel during the "tow" by the mother ship, and in-flight engine restarts were successfully accomplished. The experiment ended in disaster during the first attempt to provide automatic flight control of the F-84s, when the electronics apparently malfunctioned. The left hand F-84D-1-RE 48-641 rolled onto the wing of the B-29, and the connected aircraft both crashed with loss of all onboard personnel.