Lockheed CL-1201

The Lockheed CL-1201 was a design study by Lockheed in the late 1960s for a very large nuclear-powered transport aircraft of about 6,000 tons, one possible use of which was as an airborne aircraft carrier. The study imagined a tailless crescent-winged aircraft with a wingspan of 1,120 feet, the largest of any airplane, powered by heat from a nuclear reactor passed to four jet engines near the rear, with an estimated endurance of 41 days. At low altitudes the jets would burn conventional fuel, and 182 additional vertical lift engines were needed for take-off. Two variants were studied, a logistics support aircraft that would carry hundreds of troops and their equipment and an airborne aircraft carrier able to carry up to 22 fighters externally and an internal dock for two shuttle aircraft. The Department of Defense does not seem to have records of the outcome, but several sources cite the design.