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Chrles Kettering tested a biplane called Kettering Bug
Charles Kettering tested a pilotless biplane called the Kettering Bug that, by the standards of the day, was on the leading edge of military technology. Six feet across, five feet long and powered by a two-cycle Ford engine, it was designed to take off from a track and fly toward enemy lines. At a set time, the wings would detach and the plane, which could carry a 250-pound warhead, would hit the ground and explode. The U.S. Army built some 50 Kettering Bugs. -
idea of remotely guided weapons
The idea of remotely guided weapons sparked the interest of Captain Archibald M. Low of the Royal Flying Corps in the U.K. Low oversaw the construction of a number of remotely piloted planes that were fitted with explosive warheads -
first pilotless drones
The first pilotless drone was developed for the U.S. Navy in 1916 and 1917 by two inventors, Elmer Sperry and Peter Hewitt, who originally designed it as an unmanned aerial bomb—essentially a prototype cruise missile. Measuring just 18.5 feet across, with a 12-horsepower motor, the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Aircraft weighed 175 pounds and was stabilized and directed -
the final frontier
Similar to the Internet, space will redefine the notion of the homefront as battlefields expand to new venues. The high seas are international territory, so Germany’s use of unrestricted submarine warfare during World War I that led to the deaths of American citizens with the sinking of the Lusitania was the last straw that pressured the U.S. to join the conflict in 1917. Nations will face a similar question about the limits of war in space -
from the rear of the truck in England (Drone)
from the rear of a truck in England. a lightweight wooden plane–along with successive incarnations–largely failed to maintain its altitude. Crucially, however, for the period in which they were airborne, the Aerial Targets did respond to radio control, thus launching Tesla’s 1898 “teleautomaton” into the skies. -
Elmer Sperry invention
In 1917 Elmer Sperry, together with inventor and radio engineer Peter Hewitt, began construction of the radio-controlled “Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane” or “flying bomb.” The Automatic Airplane was able to fly 50 miles carrying a 300-pound bomb after being launched by catapul -
cruise missiles
Cruise missiles were, in a sense, proto-drones, miniature versions of what the military had attempted as far back as 1917 in the war -
Martin F.4 buzzard
the Martin F.4 Buzzard was a British designed fighting biplane appering later into world war 1 it was one of the fastest airplanes at the time of world war 1 some 1500 of these were in order to fight in world war 1 -
first unmanned flight
The first unmanned flight in history occurred on Long Island on March 6, 1918. In the end, the targeting technique—point and fly—was too imprecise for it to be useful against ships during the war -
the first aerieal torpedo
The first ‘aerial torpedo’ was the Kettering Bug first flown in 1918 but developed too late to be of use in the war