There were indeed many different ideas for aircraft carriers. Some of them became reality and others not. Boeing had a similar concept that featured a 747 airplane! The company wanted to modify a 747 to make it an aircraft carrier.
The idea never passed into the production stage, and sadly we never saw it fly.
The Concept Was Too Ambitious
Even if you think it was odd, the proposal of Boeing about the 747 AAC (Airborne Aircraft Carrier) was not the only one about a flying carrier. The first was proposed back in 1917 and was about an HM Bo.23 and some Camel fighters.
The purpose of the fighters would be to protect the base airplane. Some other examples are the Akron class, the Zveno project, and the Lockheed CL-1201.
Boeing 747 AAC was a thing since the '70s. The specific idea was one of the most ambitious ever made and was about a Boeing 747 that would deploy fighters. The fighters would be 10 Boeing Model 985-121, and they could refuel them and reload them.
Before selecting the 747 AWACS, Boeing thought about the 747-200 versions for possible base models of the AAC. The final project included 747 WACS and two reconnaissance micro-fighters. It passed all the technical tests in 1973, but it never took off…
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What Happened?
Boeing 747 AAC had the same goal as every other airborne carrier project. That was to be used in areas without a military base, and the 747 could have done that, but at what cost?
Initially, the Boeing aircraft during the '70s weren't as safe as they are today. A lot of these planes were part of accidents, and that was a red light for the US Air Force. The micro-fighters and the pilots were too important to be risked. Plus, the money and the time for development and deployment. The US Air Force needed something a bit more reliable, and safe, for this kind of mission.
The Boeing micro-fighters were very rare too and pretty much useless against the advanced soviet fighters of the era.
Last, as we said earlier, that was one of the last projects. That means that the whole concept was dying at this period. These were the main reasons for the abandoning of the Boeing 747 AAC project.
