Graphic Source: Me (I guess you can tell)

Every since I was a little kid, there has been talk of an airplane that could act like a submarine by diving into the water. I remember when I used to read comics and the heroes were pilots of these fantastic planes. The group of pilots in those books were called the Blackhawks. I bet there are some others out there that may have read them, they were my favorite. But what is the point I am really trying to make here? It simple, here we are, a race of people that is just starting to explore the planets and stars, a race that has gone to the moon, although some would dispute this, a race that has sent mini subs to the bottom of the Earth's oceans but a race that still can't build a plane that can go underwater.

The Nazis worked on designing a plane that could go under water in World War II. It was a strange looking sort of craft. It resembled s sort of sea plane with a small coning tower on top with a periscope. The idea was to fly to the target then go underwater unnoticed. This was a much faster way of getting to where you were going and you could also reach areas that a slow submarine just couldn't in time. Once the plane got as close to the target as it could it would dive, get within torpedo range then let loose. Of course this was a dream, as far as we know the plane was never built. It seems that a plane of this type is just too complicated. I guess it would have had to weigh a lot, to take the pressure when it went under the water. But would it have really been necessary for the plane to have been able to go very deep? After all, its only task was to fire the torpedoes and then fly away before a ship could catch it. What it would have lost in deep diving ability in would have made up in speed of escape.

Today things are much different. We have different questions to ask before building a submarine plane. The first question is whether is could do anything before being spotted. Today there is much more powerful radar and sonar that would pick the plane up many miles away and even if you dove into the sea, unless you could go to the bottom in a very deep trench, the enemy would track you. Of course if some new type of electronic stealth mechanism could hide the plane both in the air and water the story would be different, but if we had such a device, why would we need the ability to go under the water? The second thing to consider is cost. I say this but it really doesn't seem to be a factor when we spend billions on a bomber or submarine. Would it be worth two hundred million dollars to have a plane that is capable of going underwater? Maybe in certain situations but I am not a military expert. Then there is the weight again.

But rumor has it that there there is something being studied right now that might change our need for this type of plane, it is the underwater aircraft carrier. I can't say for sure if we will ever build one, but there is a lot of talk that we are looking into it and have for years. When we first equipped submarines with missiles they had to surface to fire them, then we refined the missile and the subs, and eventually they were able to stay under water and fire. Is this what will happen if we ever develop underwater aircraft carriers. Will they have to surface to launch their planes? Necessity is the mother of invention as we all know. I am sure if we do build this type of aircraft carrier that eventually planes will be designed that will be able to take off from them from underwater.

The Japanese had large submarines in World War II that could launch a couple of planes. I guess we never thought that this was very useful because we never had any. But there were subs way before that, that actually carried planes inside. The M2 was a sub that sank off the coast of Portland in 1932. In 1927 the HMS M2 began to carry a small two seater seaplane. The plane's wings folded so it could fit inside the sub. The plane was launched by a catapult from the deck much as a plane is launched from an aircraft carrier. She still lies at the bottom of the sea and is one of the favorite wrecks to explore. Yes this was 1927, almost 80 years ago, so how come we don't have any of this type of sub around today? Maybe we do and it is a secret. This would be a sneaky way to get a jet fighter with its load of nuclear weapons near a target, but it would be a one way trip. By the way, we obtained at least one if not all of the Japanese aircraft carrying subs for study. A standard Nimitz class carrier costs over four billion dollars to build and over two billion per year to operate, I don't think a submersible carrier would cost much more, but I could be wrong.

There is a patent for an underwater plane, it is Australian patent 198817590 by W.H. Mesiha for "plane . . . capable of descending from flying in the air to the water (seas and oceans) and then dives and travels under the water". Supposedly the plane has a crash shield for going into the water and it's wings fold. The turbine engines plug closed so no water gets in. I have no other info on it such as what propels the plane or protects the passengers as they crash through the water. I would think it would be more practical to just land on the water and sink by use of ballast tanks, but I am not the inventor and there doesn't seem to be a plane yet.