AMERICA'S FIRST DRONE: The Secret Story of the TDR-1 Assault 1944 Ghost Drone

The complete history of the Interstate TDR-1, America's first-ever operational assault drone from World War II. Featuring rare, never-before-seen interviews with personnel involved in this top-secret program

View: https://youtu.be/CXn6bbFYt6E

Where's the 1/72 kit?

IIRC there was one. It would however be nice to see some more kits of these aircraft as well as the earlier Interstates.

XBG-1 USAAF Glider Bomb, LBT-1, LBD-1, USN Glider bombs, "Glomb". Piper held a contract for 100 LBP that was gradually cancelled. Pratt-Read reported to have built 3 LBE.

The various remote controlled aircraft were mostly for target purposes, following on from the British Queen Bee the name drone appeared. The USAAF had the PQ series of which the PQ-8 and PQ-14 were produced in numbers, the USN placing an order for PQ-8 as TDC-2 Lark.

USAAF prototype missiles, Fleetwings XBQ-1, serial 42-79561, XBQ-2A, serial 42-79562, it seem these were the only powered designs without provision for a pilot.

The TDN/TDR family.
XTDN-1, Naval Aircraft Factory contract P.O. 518-42 dated 21 January 1942, Bu. No. 27853-27856, all 4 built
XTDR-1, Interstate, Contract NXs-10511, dated 16 October 1942 Bu. No. 27857-27858, both built.
XTD2R-1 Interstate, Contract NOa(s)-1667, for 2, Bu. No. 33921 and 33922, but 33921 accepted as XTD3R-1. Bu. No. 33922 crashed and was stricken, never officially accepted.
XTD3R-1, Interstate, Contract NOa(s)-1667/NXs-10511, dated 1 January 1943, Bu. No. 33921 (ordered as XTD2R-1), 33923, 33924, all 3 built.

Naval Aircraft Factory order, Bu. No. 17292-17361, contract P.O. 707-42, 100 ordered, 30 transferred to Brunswick-Balke-Collender, 70 built by NAF.

Brunswick-Balke Collender TDN-1 order, dated 18 April 1942. Sub contract from Naval Aircraft Factory, Bu. No. 17362-17391, 30 ordered and built.

Interstate TDR-1 orders. 1) Dated 1 September 1943, Bu. No. 27859-27958, Contract NOa(s)-1667, 100 ordered and built. 2) dated 15 June 1943, originally for TDR-2, altered to 72 TDR-1 24 Mar 1944, Bu. No. 64497-64568, Contract NOa(s)-994, 400 ordered, 328 cancelled.

American Aviation TDR-1 order, Bu. No. 33515-33531 Contract NOa(s)-191/NXs-11750 dated 13 January 1943 (100 ordered, 80 cancelled on 24 March 1944, orders for 3 more transferred to Interstate)

Interstate TD3R-1 order. Bu. No. 33871-33880, contract NOa(s)-994/NXs-10511, dated 30 August 1943/16 October 1942, 500 ordered, reduced to 96 on 24 March 1944, reduced to 10 on 16 September 1944, 10 built.

Came across this monster of an engine that was built for the XTD2R-1, but that aircraft was cancelled.

It's in the Franklin Museum in Tucson.

Franklin O-805 of 450hp

Wouldn't the Kettering-Sperry(?) Doodle Bug count as the first drone or are we getting hung up on the successful part?

SaparotRob said:

Wouldn't the Kettering-Sperry(?) Doodle Bug count as the first drone or are we getting hung up on the successful part?

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To me, the difference is that the Kettering Bug was more of a ballistic missile than a drone. The term "drone" has the connotation that the aircraft is human controlled and steerable enroute. The Bug was a "fire and forget" weapon.

That being said, my presentation I did on the history of drones did include the Bug as a stepping stone.

smutny said:

To me, the difference is that the Kettering Bug was more of a ballistic missile than a drone. The term "drone" has the connotation that the aircraft is human controlled and steerable enroute. The Bug was a "fire and forget" weapon.

That being said, my presentation I did on the history of drones did include the Bug as a stepping stone.

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Time and again, valuable, informative discussions descend into a battle of modifiers and superlatives. Anyone delving into 'first,' 'fastest,' 'most' or horrors, 'best,' invariably will see the value of their data shredded by niggling and often sketchy referrals. Almost any video subject is rife with exotic claims and wording to encourage clickbait.

Let's try to capture all the amazing history, technology and lore and not be intent on being second guess evaluators.

IMHO, it was a rich era of development, and I can think of at least three to fit the description ... but won't.

Not related, but even the Christmas Bullet had an interesting tale.

I'm fairly certain that NASM saved the remaining TDR-1 and loaned it to the EAA museum in the '60s who restored and I believe flew it with a pilot. That was not appreciated, and I believe it wound up at the Naval Air Museum, where it has perhaps the best home.

TDR-1 @ Pensacoola (Pensacola)

fannum said:

Time and again, valuable, informative discussions descend into a battle of modifiers and superlatives. Anyone delving into 'first,' 'fastest,' 'most' or horrors, 'best,' invariably will see the value of their data shredded by niggling and often sketchy referrals. Almost any video subject is rife with exotic claims and wording to encourage clickbait.

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I don't see how you could infer that from my post at all. Weapons systems like the Bug and TDR were parallel developments, both flew to their target and went boom, but used differing technologies to get there.

Didn't say one was better than the other, just that different technologies were used.

I'd highly recommend "Unmanned Systems of World Wars I and II" (Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Agents series) by H. R. Everett, Michael Toscano and Ronald C. Arkin. It's an authoritative account of this and many other very interesting projects.

Here'tis. Who wants to volunteer to fly one?

MIflyer said:

Here'tis. Who wants to volunteer to fly one?

View attachment 849218

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XTD3R-1 rather than TDR-1.

Nice one!