A big topic in the news these days is about the use of drones, otherwise known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). A drone is a small or medium aircraft without a pilot or passenger on board. Its system integrates robotics with aeronautics. They can be guided by remote control or autonomously by an onboard computer and are capable of a controlled and sustained level of flight.
The technology of today’s drones has come a long way…from the first pilotless aircraft built for military purposes, to the rapid growth and advancement of drone technology that has evolved into an accessible consumer electronic.
Pilotless aircraft dates back to 1849 when Austria launched unmanned incendiary balloons carrying explosives controlled with timed fuses over the city of Venice.
The early development of drones began in 1907 when the Breguet brothers developed an early example of a gyroplane (quadcopter), the precursor of the helicopter.
Pilotless aircraft progressed after the outbreak of World War I with the Proctor Aerial Target, based on Nikola Tesla’s designs, and was developed by British engineer and inventor Archibald Low, referred to as the ‘father of radio guidance systems.’ In 1917, following the declaration of war with Germany, American inventor Charles Kettering designed the unmanned Kettering Aerial Torpedo, which used gyroscopic controls and internal preset pneumatic and electrical controls that stabilized and guided it toward a set target.
Between 1930 and 1945, the British developed the ‘Queen Bee’ radio-controlled target drone; its name is attributed to the present term ‘drone’.
The Radioplane Company was an American aviation company that produced drone aircraft primarily used as aerial targets for anti-aircraft gunnery training. The Company’s OQ2 was a remote-controlled model airplane developed by British actor Reginald Denny and Walter Righter. It was America’s first mass produced UAV. During World War II, Radioplane produced over 9,000 of the OQ-3 model making it the most-used target aircraft in the US. In 1945, Norma Jean Dougherty, later known as Marilyn Monroe, was discovered while she was working at Radioplane’s OQ-3 drone production factory.
Beginning in October 1943, a cadre of WASP who were graduates of tow target at Camp Davis were transferred to Liberty Field, Georgia to receive 90 –days of instruction in piloting radio-controlled (RC) aircraft using the Culver PQ-8 and PQ-14 target drones. These aircraft were a product of the US Army’s radio-control program which began circa 1940.
The PQ-8 and PQ-14 were flown remotely. Each of the drone’s control surfaces was connected to its own servo motor, which input precise position adjustments responding to commands it received from the remote pilot by the aircraft’s radio control receiver. The PQ-14 could be operated either with or without a pilot in it.
Radio control pilots known as ‘beeper pilots’ (due to the sounds and lights emitted by their control boxes) could control the PQ from the ground, or from another plane following at a distance of up to five miles. The RC pilots could control the plane as effectively as if they we sitting in the cockpit, and could simulate the movements of fighter planes during target training for gunners and pilots.
While training at Liberty Field, two WASP would fly in an AT-17: one WASP flew the AT-17 while the second WASP controlled the PQ-8. A third WASP flew in the PQ as a safety pilot to take control of the aircraft if needed.
After advanced RC training, WASP were assigned to one or more duty stations. A group of five women from Class 43-3, known as the Biggs Five were sent to Biggs AAF, Texas 6th Tow Target Squadron, where they flew PQ-8 radio control for target practice. In addition, WASP assigned to Biggs flew low altitude night missions without lights to drop flares on troop trainees and laid down smoke and tear gas on ground troop trainees.
To learn more about the duty assignment at Biggs Army Air Field, which WASP and author Byrd Granger describes in her volume On Final Approach as one of the most dynamic of all duty stations for the WASP, see Andy Hailey, K.O.W. (Kid of a WASP- whose mother, Lois was one of the Biggs Five) WASP Web Pages at: https://www.wwii-women-pilots.org/
Written by: Julia Lauria-Blum
Photos courtesy of: Cradle of Aviation Museum
About Julia Lauria-Blum:
Julia Lauria-Blum earned a degree in the Visual Arts at SUNY New Paltz. An early interest in women aviation pioneers led her to research the Women Airforce Service Pilots of WWII. In 2001 she curated the permanent WASP exhibit at the American Airpower Museum (AAM) in Farmingdale, NY, and later curated ‘Women Who Brought the War Home, Women War Correspondents, WWII’ at the AAM. She is the former curatorial assistant & collections registrar at the Cradle of Aviation Museum on Long Island and is currently editor-in-chief for Metropolitan Airport News.
Julia is the proud mother of two daughters and a rescued Boxer. Her many interests include swimming, painting, traveling, aviation history, cooking, and storytelling.