Pictures of Cold War aircraft. (1 Viewer)

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Beechcraft QU-22B Pave Eagle

The QU-22B Model was the production drone model for the USAF operation Pave Eagle. A total of 27 were built.
The Beechcraft QU-22 Pave Eagle was a Beech 36/A36 Bonanza modified during the Vietnam War to be an electronic monitoring signal relay aircraft, developed under the project name "Pave Eagle" for the USAF. A reduction geared Continental GTSIO-520 engine with turbocharger and three-bladed propeller was used to reduce its noise signature, much like the later Lockheed YO-3. These aircraft were intended to be used as unmanned drones to monitor sensors along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos and report troop and supply movements. However when the project was put into operation in 1968, the drones were all flown by pilots of the 554th Reconnaissance Squadron.




The source: globalair.com, the Internet.
 
2 of those were being used as instructional airframes when I was in A&P school for the powerplant portion of my License at Kirkland Community Collage at the airport in Grayling MI in the late 1970's. I had forgotten all about them, and they were a wiring nightmare as all of the autopilot and remote control components where just cut out of them (wires that is) we got one running for a short while. I had forgotten all about them, never seen a picture of one in the air before!
If I remember correctly there was a giant generator mounted under the bulge in the upper cowling, the gearbox to slow the propeller down was also on top of the engine. Brings back forgotten memories!
 

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