Drones in the Pacific

[bobbysocks]

I saw an episode of "American Pickers" where they found a fan made out of an engine used on a ww2 drone. the drone they talked about was used for AA practice...i guess they learned that towing a target was not a great idea. so i was researching this to see if these engines are available and if they could be used for ultralight or light sport ac. but i found this film on using them as aerial torpedos in the pacific. i knew they did the same type of thing with 17s and 24s in ANVIL and APHRODITE missions but this was new to me...so figured i would pass it on.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RQcUtzAe98

 

[tyrodtom]

That's probably the 6 cylinder, 2 cycle McCulloch drone engine. Made especially for target drones. In other words, a expected short lifetime.

In the 50's and 60's there were thousands of Benson gyrocopters powered by a 4 cylinder version of this engine.
Probably the loudest engine ever made. The old Bensons would only do maybe 70mph, so you'd hear them for several minutes before you'd see them.

Even with overhauls with improved rings and bearings, and converted to dual magnetos, still not engines noted for their dependability.

 

[vikingBerserker]

I just finished reading Target Rabaul by Bruce Gamble and they talked about the use of drones armed with a couple of bombs against the island while being controlled from a TBM. Not extremely successful but pretty interesting.

 

[Park]

I am amazed at what the members of this forum know or can find. I'm 52 and have been interested in WWII aviation all my life and have never heard or seen anything about these drones !

 

[GrauGeist]

There was the ASM bat, a radar guided bomb, which was not nessecarily an aircraft, but certainly a "drone" of sorts.

There was also the Culver PQ series radio controlled aircraft, but these were used for target practice.

But the most interesting is the TDR-1 program used in the Pacific which was a television-controlled "drone" carrying a 2,000 pound payload, controlled remotely from a TBM. There were about 50 missions against Japanese targets, but only scored about 18 direct hits.