Just looking through and old book I had on the shelf that I haven’t looked at in years (see note at bottom for more details on it). A section called “The First Doodlebugs” caught my interest, what with Hooves and Russ being involved with UAVs/drones, and the Predator in DCS. Of course we all most likely know already that Doodlebug was the name given by the British to what is often considered to be the world’s first “cruise missile”, the Fieseler Fi 103, better known as the V1 (the video forgets to mention the Mighty 8th, by the way. Must be English )…



(Do read John Howitt’s comment on the video, the top comment, though). It turns out it was far from being the first. The article in my book mentions the experimental Dayton-Wright Aerial Torpedo, which flew successfully in 1919! I found this footage on Youtube about it…



A British attempt at a similar guided weapon was the “Larynx”, 1927 (LOL! Designers had a sense of humor then)…



While thinking about it, I remembered another German WWII weapon, the composite Mistel. Found this footage of some in operational use, getting shot down…



Also from WWII Germany, one of the earliest remotely controlled aircraft to be proposed for a reconnaissance role, the AS 292 , as well as weapon delivery. The link I provide here is in German, and apologetically asks the reader to put up with images of the swastika (that’s up to you, of course. Here the direct link to the relevant page skips that procedure). I used Google Translate to read it, lol!

And, apart from reconnaissance and warhead delivery, another popular use of drones in the military is as a target. This goes back years, too, but one stands out for me, as I saw one, when I was a young kid, on static display at an air-show my dad took me to. The Jindivik. I was about six, and couldn’t stop saying the word for weeks, lol!



Remotely piloted vehicles were also used for aerodynamic research, one example here being the Rockwell RPRV-870 HiMAT…



I could go on and on, but I won’t as I risk boring everyone. It seems I am more interested in the subject than I thought, lol! Just two final things to wrap up.

It so happens that Norma Jeane (Aka Marylin Monroe) was “discovered” by a news assignment to the Radioplane assembly unit in Burbank, CA . She worked on old UAVs before she was a celebrity.

While browsing, I also found this page which will be of interest to all UAV fans.

The old UAV, the drone, and the cruise missile have a long and rich history!

Note: The book I mentioned; “The History of Aviation”, Second Edition, New English Library, London, 1978. My copy was given to me as a birthday present in 1979, and I’ve hung onto it ever since. Here’s the article, which I hope is clear enough to read (darn iPad camera, again).

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