Introduction: The World's First Drone -- The War and Before -- The Making of Archie -- Work, Cars and the Woods Next Door -- Televista -- Three More Generals -- The Aerial Threat Over Britain -- Fatal Training -- The Bravest Star -- The Industry of Invention -- Archie's Marching Orders -- How to Make a Great War Drone -- The Aerial Target Designers -- The Trials -- A Drone by Any Other Name -- Controlled Distractions -- The Clifton West Affair -- Distance Control Boats -- Determination and Resolution.
Summary:
"In the dark days of World War I, when flying machines, radio, and electronics were infant technologies, the first remotely controlled experimental aircraft took to the skies and unmanned radio controlled 40-foot high-speed Motor Torpedo Boats ploughed the seas in Britain. Developed by the British Army's Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Navy these prototype weapons stemmed from an early form of television demonstrated before the war by Prof. A. M. Low. The remote control systems for these aircraft and boats were invented at RFC Secret Experimental Works commanded by Prof. Low, which was part of the organization of 'back-room boys' in the Munitions Inventions Department. These audacious projects of Low and his contemporaries led to the hundreds of remotely controlled Queen Bee aerial targets in the 1930s and hence to all the machines that we now call 'drones'."
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.