The OQ-2 Radioplane was the first mass-produced UAV or drone in the United States.

Development

Reginald Denny

The first large-scale production, purpose-built drone was the product of Reginald Denny. He served with the British Royal Flying Corps during World War I, and after the war emigrated to the United States to seek his fortunes in Hollywood as an actor. Denny had made a name for himself as an actor, and between acting jobs, he pursued his interest in radio control model aircraft in the 1930s. He and his business partners formed "Reginald Denny Industries" and opened a model plane shop in 1934 on Hollywood Boulevard known as "Reginald Denny Hobby Shops".^[1]

Early Radioplane development

The shop evolved into the "Radioplane Company". Denny believed that low-cost RC aircraft would be very useful for training anti-aircraft gunners, and in 1935 he demonstrated a prototype target drone, the RP-1, to the US Army. Denny then bought a design from Walter Righter in 1938 and began marketing it to hobbyists as the Dennymite, and demonstrated it to the Army as the RP-2, and after modifications as the RP-3 and RP-4 in 1939.

Army purchase

In 1940, the Army placed an order for 53 RP-4s, designating them the OQ-1, the "OQ" meaning a "subscale target". This small order led to a much bigger 1941 order from the US Army for the company's similar RP-5, which became the US Army OQ-2. The US Navy also bought the drone, designating it TDD-1 or "Target Drone Denny 1". Thousands were built, manufactured in a plant at the Van Nuys Airport in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was at this factory that in 1944 Army photographer David Conover saw a young lady named Norma Jeane, and thought she had potential as a model. This "discovery" led to fame for Jeane, who soon changed her name to Marilyn Monroe.

Description and variants

The OQ-2 was a simple aircraft, powered by a two-cylinder two-cycle piston engine, providing and driving two contra-rotating propellers. The RC control system was built by Bendix. Launch was from a convention runway, and recovery was either by returning to the runway or by parachute.

The OQ-2 led to a series of similar but improved variants, with the OQ-3 / TDD-2 and OQ-14 / TDD-3 produced in quantity. A number of other target drones were built by Radioplane and competing companies during the war, most of which never got beyond prototype stage, which accounts for the gaps in the designation sequence between "OQ-3" and "OQ-14".

During the war Radioplane manufactured nearly fifteen thousand drones. The company was bought by Northrop in 1952.

Specifications (OQ-2)

References

1. ↑ Reginald Denny Hobby Shops