B36 Bomber and parasite fighter in flight - 1953

An American B-36 bomber with a "parasite" fighter in flight...this film was USAF official film from 1953. I thought that his must have been experimental, because the system for launch and recovery was never widely adopted, but I'm later informed that the system actually was operational for about a year. Fascinating. My informant says, "The system was actually operational for about one year. When the Lockheed U-2 entered service, the GRB-36D/GRF-84K was withdrawn."