One Visible Future

This is a photograph of Marilyn Monroe, then Mrs James Dougherty, June 26, 1945, working in the Radioplane Munitions Factory, a plant at the Van Nuys Airport in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

The factory was owned, and the radioplane invented, by Reginald Denny, movie actor (he appeared in Anna Karenina (1935) and Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940) among others) and Royal Flying Corps veteran.

This photograph of Monroe, one of a series by Army photographer David Conover, which led to her first screen test, shows her working at the Radioplane factory, assembling an OQ-2 Radioplane, “the first mass-produced UAV or drone in the United States.”

It started already with the first drones developed before, during and after the WWII. The US Army Air Corps, and later the US Air Force, considered themselves always as „Air Forces for pilots“, thus anything that had something to do with aircraft without pilots was simply despised. Many programs for development of pilot-less aircraft were shut down almost as soon as they were started, before the correct terminology for drones was found: „Remotely Piloted Vehicle“. This actually didn’t helped drones to be more accepted by the USAF, however they were at least tolerated and the continuous development of drones for the USAF became a go-ahead during the 1950s. The final break-trough came only during the early 1960s, when several losses of U-2 reconnaissance planes over the USSR, China and Cuba forced Americans to find the ways of learning more about Soviet S-172/SA-2 SAM systems.

[Firebee drones deployed to Vietnam…]

Immediately drones showed immense capabilities and adaptability. The simplest AQM-34H variant - of the project „Litter Bug“ - was used for dropping leaflets. However, advanced models, foremost AQM-34L/Ms (project „Buffalo Hunter“) were equipped with Doppler-radars, precise LORAN-nav-systems and recce cameras, including a TV-camera capable of transmitting pictures to carrier aircraft in „real-time“. The AQM-34Q and AQM-34Rs were designed for operations at high altitudes, but - generally - all versions could relatively simply be equipped with modules for a very wide range of missions, including ELINT, SIGINT, jamming, photo-reconnaissance (especially at low level), real-time televised reconnaissance and leaflet-dropping. The guidance system automatically controlled the height, course, power setting of the engine and the recovery systems. Usual AQM-34 for use at low levels had a span between 3.96 and 4.57mm. For missions at high altitude, however, wings of between 8.23m and 9.14m span could be attached. Early drones had a length of 7.92m, but this grew to 9.75m on later versions. Initial engines were not very powerful at only 771 or 871kg thrust, but later better - with up to 1.27 tonnes - were added. Several models were also capable of carrying drop tanks under the fuselage or wings. […]

Due to their excellent capabilities in low-level missions, highly upgraded AQM-34L became the most successful of all Firebee variants. Drones of this version flew no less than 1.600 missions over North Vietnam. Several examples of AQM-34L, namely, „Tomcat“ (68 missions, shot down by Vietnamese AAA), „Budweiser“ (63 missions), „Rayan’s Daughter“ (52 missions) and „Baby Buck“ (46 missions) became unbelievably successful and survived some of most fascinating adventures of this war. All their missions were properly marked by „mission-signs“ on the right side of the fuselage. This is the story of some of their missions. […]

Headless Fighters: USAF Recconnaissance-UAVs over Vietnam)

Predator drone transport cases in the Avengers movie (via iamdanw on Instagram) - scene filmed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base located in Wilmington, Ohio, home to the USAF Museum, which has several Predators on show.

BBC iPlayer - Operation Crossbow

On the British use of 3D stereoscopy to augment aerial photography, including discovery and surveillance of V-Weapon sites.

Operation Crossbow at Wikipedia.

Operation Crossbow: How 3D glasses helped defeat Hitler - BBC.

Twitter / RowlandWhite: The Houses of Parliament photographed by a Canberra PR9 flying at 47,000 feet over the Isle of Wight

Air International Magagize, September 2003.

Air International V65 N3 General Atomics Predator UAV Mil MI 8 MI 17 Hip Helo | eBay

Joint Publication 3-09.3 [PDF] - the USAF’s command decision document for close air support, including drone strikes, referenced by Colonel William Tart, head of the US Air Force’s Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) Task Force in Langley and former commander at Creech Air Force Base, in response to questions about the chain of command.