DRONE FLIGHT... Since 1917...

5fish

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You know there was a WWone drone... Kettering Aerial Torpedo "Bug"


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In 1917 Charles F. Kettering of Dayton, Ohio, invented the unmanned Kettering Aerial Torpedo, nicknamed the "Bug." Launched from a four-wheeled dolly that ran down a portable track, the Bug's system of internal pre-set pneumatic and electrical controls stabilized and guided it toward a target. After a predetermined length of time, a control closed an electrical circuit, which shut off the engine. Then, the wings were released, causing the Bug to plunge to earth -- where its 180 pounds of explosive detonated on impact.

The Dayton-Wright Airplane Co. built fewer than 50 Bugs before the Armistice, and the Bug never saw combat. After the war, the U.S. Army Air Service conducted additional tests, but the scarcity of funds in the 1920s halted further development. Museum personnel built this full-size reproduction of the Bug, and it went on display in 1964.


Here is more detail...

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts...-have-been-around-since-world-war-i-16055939/

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Recently, the United States’ use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been the subject of much debate and scrutiny. But their history dates back a lot further than the war on terror. The first true UAVs, which are technically defined by their capability to return successfully after a mission, were developed in the late 1950s, but the American military actually began designing and developing unmanned aircraft during the first World War.

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The first functioning unmanned aerial vehicle was developed in 1918 as a secret project supervised by Orville Wright and Charles F. Kettering. Kettering was an electrical engineer and founder of the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company, known as Delco, which pioneered electric ignition systems for automobiles and was soon bought out by General Motors. At GM, Kettering continued to invent and develop improvements to the automobile, as well as portable lighting systems, refrigeration coolants, and he even experimented with harnessing solar energy. When the U.S. entered World War I, his engineering prowess was applied to the war effort and, under Kettering’s direction, the government developed the world’s first “self-flying aerial torpedo,” which eventually came to be known as the “Kettering Bug”.

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The Dayton-Wright Airplane Company built fewer than 50 Bugs but the war ended before any could be used in battle. That might be for the best. Much like today, there was a lot of doubt about the reliability and predictability of the unmanned aircraft and the military expressed concern about possibly endangering friendly troops. After the war, research into unmanned aircraft continued for a short time, but development halted in the 1920s due to the scarcity of funding and research on UAVs wasn’t seriously picked up again until the outbreak of World War II. Although by today’s standards, the Kettering Bug has more in common with a guided missile than a drone, its conception as a pilotless plane represents an important step in the historical development of unmanned aerial vehicles.


Here is wiki take...


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The Kettering Bug was an experimental unmanned aerial torpedo, a forerunner of present-day cruise missiles. It was capable of striking ground targets up to 121 kilometres (75 mi) from its launch point, while traveling at speeds of 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph).[1] The Bug's costly design and operation inspired Dr. Henry W. Walden to create a rocket that would allow a pilot to control the rocket after launch with the use of radio waves.[2] The British radio controlled weapons of 1917 were secret at this time. These designs were forerunners of modern-day missiles

 

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Joe Kennedy Jr. was suppose to be the first Catholic President but in World War Two testing drone bombers...


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Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., a lieutenant in the Navy, died in 1944 testing a very rudimentary drone program called Operation Aphrodite.
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Here's how it worked: the Navy would load up B-17's or B-24's with a ton of explosives, and then control them via radio from a trailing aircraft and steer them into targets kamikaze-style. There was just one issue, the technology did not exist for these remotely-piloted aircraft to take off. So a crew had to take off the aircraft, get it to a safe altitude, and then parachute from the vessel. Operation Aphrodite was combat tested program, meaning they tested the development of this new weapon by simply trying to make it happen in actual combat scenarios. That's how, on August 12, 1944, Joseph P. Kennedy, a 29-year-old Navy Aviator, found himself aboard a B-24 Liberator laden with 20,000 pounds of explosives.

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Operation Aphrodite was a huge failure. It killed more American service members than Nazis. Kennedy was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, the second-highest award for valor in combat.


Here is wiki take more details... a sample...

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Operation Aphrodite made use of unmanned, explosive-laden Army Air Corps Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Navy Consolidated PB4Y-1 Liberator bombers that were deliberately crashed into their targets under radio control.[7] These "drone" aircraft could not take off safely on their own and so a crew of two would take off and fly to 2,000 feet (610 m) before they activated the remote control system, armed the detonators, and parachuted from the aircraft. After trials, the first mission took place on August 4, 1944, against targets including the Fortress of Mimoyecques, an underground military complex under construction in northern France.[8] The US Navy also participated in Operation Aphrodite, with its portion referred to as Operation Anvil.[9] Kennedy had been appointed a lieutenant on July 1.[6] After the US Army Air Corps operation missions were drawn up on July 23, Lieutenants Wilford John Willy[10] and Kennedy were designated as the Navy's first Anvil flight crew.[11] Willy, who was the executive officer of Special Air Unit 1, had also volunteered for the mission and pulled rank over Ensign James Simpson, who was Kennedy's regular co-pilot.

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On August 12, Kennedy and his co-pilot Willy flew a BQ-8 "robot" aircraft (a converted B-24 Liberator) for the Navy's first Aphrodite mission. Initially, two Lockheed Ventura mother planes and a Boeing B-17 navigation plane took off from RAF Fersfield, Norfolk, England at 1800 on Saturday, August 12, 1944. Then the BQ-8 aircraft, loaded with 21,170 lb (9,600 kg) of Torpex explosive, took off to be used against the U-boat pens at Heligoland in the North Sea.[8][1
 

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Here another Navy drone program called TRD... saw combat... the video of them being tested... @Leftyhunter


Here is wiki take... made by a music company...


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The Interstate TDR was an early unmanned combat aerial vehicle — referred to at the time as an "assault drone" — developed by the Interstate Aircraft and Engineering Corporation during the Second World War for use by the United States Navy. Capable of being armed with bombs or torpedoes, 2000 aircraft were ordered, but only around 200 were built. The type saw some service in the Pacific Theater against the Japanese, but continuing developmental issues affecting the aircraft, along with the success of operations using more conventional weapons, led to the decision being made to cancel the assault drone program in October 1944
 

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The Brits had a drone... in the 1930's


snip...

The Queen Bee was devised as a low-cost radio-controlled target aircraft, for realistic anti-aircraft (AA) gunnery training. If it survived the shooting (as intended, by offset aiming), its controller would attempt to recover it for re-use. The Queen Bee used the engine, unslatted wings, under-carriage and tailplane of a Tiger Moth. But instead of a Tiger Moth fabric-covered metal frame fuselage, it used a wooden (spruce and plywood) Moth Major fuselage since this was cheaper and offered buoyancy in the event of a ditching. The carburettor was reversed to cope with the high forward accelerations experienced in a catapult launch. The aircraft could be flown manned, from the front seat. The enclosed rear cockpit position was equipped with RAE radio-control gear including pneumatically-operated servo units linked to the aircraft rudder and elevator controls. A four-bladed wooden windmill in the propeller slipstream on the fuselage port side drove an air-pump to provide compressed air for the gyro unit and servos. The Queen Bee was first flown, manned, at Hatfield in 1935, then remotely-controlled at Farnborough later that year. 412 were built between 1933 and 1943, 360 as float planes. Over 380 Queen Bees were built, operated by the Fleet Air Arm (many on twin floats) and the Royal Air Force.

Here is a little more...


 

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Here is a great video about Drones and A.I. arms race... The video opens with a rock video you know its a good video...

 

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Here a review of the war where Drones showed their dominance...

 

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HERE are anti drone killers...

 

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HERE are anti drone killers...

You know the old sayings "It takes a sniper to get a sniper" or "It takes a sub to get a sub" so why do we not use "It takes a drone to get a drone"? They are putting bombs on drones. They can turn drones into air-to-air missiles or some other device to take out drones.
 

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We got drone dogfights... @O' Be Joyful , @rittmeister , @Wehrkraftzersetzer , @jgoodguy , @diane , @Union8448 A lot of ramming...



Drone on drone encounters are a novelty. Both sides in Ukraine are using thousands of Chinese-made quadcopters for reconnaissance, artillery direction and dropping grenades — much to the discomfort of the makers who say their drones should not be used in war. An enemy drone is an imminent threat, so taking radical action, even if it risks losing your own drone, is called for.
 

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The Navy working on a drone bomber... The salty dog...



The Northrop Grumman X-47B is a demonstration unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) designed for aircraft carrier-based operations. Developed by the American defense technology company Northrop Grumman, the X-47 project began as part of DARPA's J-UCAS program, and subsequently became part of the United States Navy's Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) program. The X-47B is a tailless jet-powered blended-wing-body aircraft capable of semi-autonomous operation and aerial refueling.[1]

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