In response to the U.S. Navy's need in the late 1940s for a carrier-based, long-range jet bomber, the Glenn L. Martin Company, the successful purveyor of large sea planes, proposed its Model 245, a hybrid that could fly to the carrier's operating area, refueling from submarines along the way, and then jettison the boat hull for operation from a carrier. It was apparently to be used only from staging from a carrier, because it did not have folding wings. The Navy went with the more conventional Douglas A3D Skywarrior instead.
Pictures and information courtesy of the Glenn L. Martin Maryland Aviation Museum.
You know - there was a lot of this "jettisoning" nonsense in the 50's and early 60's. One of the early designs for what wold become the B-58, for example, with the parasite concept used for the GEBO II configuration.
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