Editing Combat Aircraft (section)

===Mothership===
While normally associated with Science Fiction, motherships did have a practical, although limited use in history. The earliest airborne motherships were airships, having internal hangars to carry biplane fighters, such as the American Akron class airships. In WWII, the Russians re-purposed the obsolete TB-3 Heavy bomber into carrying 2-5 light fighters, thereby extending their operational range and allowing them to carry heavier payloads. Nowadays, the mothership concept is only used for experimental aircraft or for carrying unmanned drones; Aircraft carriers are much more practical for launching fighters away from one's home base.