Aircraft carriers don't have to float - they can also fly. The United States Navy's interwar Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk was a parasitic fighter bi-plane carried by airborne aircraft carriers.

The Macon was outfitted with trapeze bars under its belly and could carry either five Curtiss F9C-2 Sparrowhawk biplanes or five N2Y-1s. The Sparrowhawk was a type of plane known as a “parasite ...