Unmanned Aviation: A Brief History of Unmanned Aerial VehiclesIn the 1990s, the author oversaw development of two of the Pentagon's most advanced UAVs. As he looked at the history of unmanned planes, he noticed that each time a conflict broke out, well-intentioned American engineers would get to work on the latest unmanned concepts all but blind to the work of those who came before them. In this book, Newcome chronicles the long history of unmanned aircraft in hopes of ending the cycle of duplicative efforts. If this brief history can help prevent such reinventions of the wheel within unmanned aviation endeavors in the future, then it will have served its purpose, Newcome writes. Newcome traces the family tree of unmanned aircraft all the way back to their roots as aerial torpedoes, which were the equivalent of today's cruise missiles. He discusses the work of leading aerospace pioneers whose efforts in the area of unmanned aviation have largely been ignored by history. The book chronicles the use of unmanned aircraft in times and places where you might not expect them, such as during the Cold War, in Vietnam, and in Israel. Details on the overall trend in UAV design--for instance the recent transition from remotely-piloted planes to the ques |
Contents
INTRODUCTION | 1 |
BIRTH OF A CONCEPT | 11 |
THE CONCEPT TAKES FLIGHT | 15 |
BUT FOR ONE DISSENTING VOTE | 23 |
REMOTE CONTROL | 31 |
UNITED KINGDOM | 41 |
THE MANY ROOTS OF AVIATION | 49 |
REGINALD DENNY AND THE RADIOPLANE COMPANY | 57 |
ENDEAVORING to EndurE | 101 |
UNFUELED AND UNMANNED | 117 |
A SNAPSHOT | 127 |
FUTURE HISTORY | 133 |
APPENDIX A SIGNIFICANT Dates in UnmannED AVIATION | 139 |
APPENDIX B NOTABLE PERSONALITIES IN UNMANNED AVIATION | 141 |
MUSEUMS WITH UNMANNED AIRCRAFT | 145 |
NOTABLE UNMANNED AIRCRAFT | 147 |
Delmer Fahrney AND THE FIRST UCAV | 63 |
COLD WAR HOT MISSIONS | 71 |
THE COMING OF AGE | 83 |
ISRAEL | 93 |
| 159 | |
| 161 | |
SUPPORTING MATERIALS 173 | |
Other editions - View all
Unmanned Aviation: A Brief History of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Laurence R. Newcome No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
ACTD Aerial Torpedo aerial vehicle Aeronautics Aerosonde AeroVironment Air Force Museum airplane altitude assault drones autopilot Boeing bombs British built camera capability Carl Norden catapult Cody combat Commander Company concept contract crashed cruise missiles Curtiss DarkStar Dayton Wright Defense demonstrated electrical Elmer Sperry endurance UAV engine equipment Fahrney flew flight test flown flying glider Global Hawk Grumman gyroscope gyrostabilized high-altitude Israeli Israeli Aircraft Industries Kettering later launch Liberty Eagle Lockheed miles military Naval Navy's Northrop Northrop Grumman October onboard Pathfinder payload performance Peter Cooper Hewitt pilotless plane Predator production PV cells radar radio control Radioplane reconnaissance reconnaissance UAV remote control robotic aircraft role safety pilot sensors solar solar-powered speed Sperry's takeoff target drones Tesla Tier U.S. Army U.S. Navy UAV operations UCAV unmanned aerial vehicles unmanned aircraft unmanned aviation unmanned flight Vietnam wing World Yes Yes Yes