The Battle of Palmdale was the attempted shoot-down of a runaway
drone
Drone most commonly refers to:
* Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg
* Unmanned aerial vehicle
* Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft
* Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone
Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to:
...
by
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
interceptors in the skies over Southern California in mid-August 1956. The drone was launched from
Point Mugu Naval Air Station
Naval Air Station Point Mugu was a United States naval air station near Oxnard, California, which operated as an independent base from 1941 to 2000, when it merged with nearby Naval Construction Battalion Center Port Hueneme to form Naval Base V ...
and soon went out of control. Interceptor aircraft took off from
Oxnard Air Force Base and caught up with the drone, but were ultimately unable to bring it down, despite using all of their rockets. After it ran out of fuel, the unmanned aircraft crashed in a sparsely populated tract of desert.
[Chronicles of Naval Aviation Steeljawscribe article](_blank)
August 28, 2007
During the incident over 1000 acres were scorched and a substantial amount of property was damaged or destroyed.
Background
In the mid-1950s, the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
was involved in
research and development on surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles for the protection of its ships and other assets. The missiles being tested at this time included the
AIM-7 Sparrow and the Bendix
AAM-N-10 Eagle
The AAM-N-10 Eagle was a long-range air-to-air missile developed by the Bendix Corporation for use by the United States Navy. Intended for carriage by the Douglas F6D Missileer fleet defense fighter, the Eagle program was cancelled before testing ...
. Unmanned drones were used to test the missiles' effectiveness. One type of drone was the
Grumman F6F-5K Hellcat
The Grumman F6F Hellcat is an American Carrier-based aircraft, carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War II. Designed to replace the earlier Grumman F4F Wildcat, F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, it was the United St ...
.
![USN F6F-5K Hellcat Red Drone](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/USN_F6F-5K_Hellcat_Red_Drone.jpg)
At the same time, one of the air force's major concerns was how to protect the country from
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
strategic bombers
A strategic bomber is a medium- to long-range penetration bomber aircraft designed to drop large amounts of air-to-ground weaponry onto a distant target for the purposes of debilitating the enemy's capacity to wage war. Unlike tactical bombers, ...
such as the
Tupolev Tu-16
The Tupolev Tu-16 (NATO reporting name: Badger) is a twin-engined jet strategic heavy bomber used by the Soviet Union. It has been flown for almost 70 years, and the Chinese license-built Xian H-6 remains in service with the People's Liberation ...
and the new
Myasishchev M-4
The Myasishchev M-4 ''Molot'' (russian: Молот (Hammer), USAF/DoD reporting name "Type 37", ASCC reporting name Bison) was a four-engined strategic bomber designed by Vladimir Mikhailovich Myasishchev and manufactured by the Soviet Union in ...
. In 1956, the air force's frontline cutting-edge technology interceptor was the heavily armed
Northrop F-89D Scorpion
The Northrop F-89 Scorpion was an American all-weather, twin-engined interceptor aircraft built during the 1950s, the first jet-powered aircraft designed for that role from the outset to enter service. Though its straight wings limited its per ...
. Thirty active duty
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
and seven
Air National Guard interceptor squadrons using the Scorpion existed in states from Alaska to New York.
Incident
On the morning of 16 August 1956, at NAS Point Mugu, an F6F-5K, painted high-visibility red, was prepared for its final mission by Navy personnel. At 11:34 a.m. the drone lifted off the runway and was flown by controllers on a heading to the missile test area above the Pacific Ocean. After a short time the drone stopped responding to commands, and it became clear that the drone had become a runaway.
Controllers watched their target as it started a gentle left-hand climbing curve to the southeast, toward the city of Los Angeles. The Navy had no aircraft available capable of dispatching the drone, so they called
Oxnard Air Force Base to the north. The
437th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
The 437th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with 414th Fighter Group at Oxnard Air Force Base, California, where it was inactivated on 30 September 1969.
The squadron was first ac ...
immediately scrambled two F-89D Scorpions. The twin jet-interceptor crews were First Lt. Hans Einstein and his radar observer, First Lt. C. D. Murray, followed by First Lt. Richard Hurliman and First Lt. Walter Hale. They headed south in full
afterburner
An afterburner (or reheat in British English) is an additional combustion component used on some jet engines, mostly those on military supersonic aircraft. Its purpose is to increase thrust, usually for supersonic flight, takeoff, and co ...
and caught up with the drone at , northeast of Los Angeles.
The drone turned southwest, crossing over Los Angeles, then headed northwest. As the drone circled slowly over
Santa Paula
Santa Paula ( Spanish for " St. Paula") is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. Situated amid the orchards of the Santa Clara River Valley, the city advertises itself to tourists as the "Citrus Capital of the World". Santa P ...
, the Scorpion pilots waited for it to fly over an unpopulated area so they could attack with their "
Mighty Mouse
Mighty Mouse is an American animated anthropomorphic superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox. The character was originally called Super Mouse, and made his debut in the 1942 short ''The Mouse of Tomorro ...
" 2.75-inch folding-fin rockets.
![F89-D Scorpion Air Force interceptor 1958](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/F89-D_Scorpion_Air_Force_interceptor_1958.jpg)
The two crews discussed attack options. Their D-model Scorpions were equipped with the new
Hughes
Hughes may refer to:
People
* Hughes (surname)
* Hughes (given name)
Places Antarctica
* Hughes Range (Antarctica), Ross Dependency
* Mount Hughes, Oates Land
* Hughes Basin, Oates Land
* Hughes Bay, Graham Land
* Hughes Bluff, Victoria La ...
E-6 fire-control system with AN/APG-40 radar and an attack-plotting computer, which gave them a choice of two attack options to fire the unguided rockets while in automatic mode: from behind in a "tail chase" situation or a firing pass from a 90° "beam" position. Since the drone was almost continuously turning, they chose the second mode of attack. Soon the drone turned northeast, passing over
Fillmore, then
Frazier Park,
heading for the western section of the mostly uninhabited
Antelope Valley
The Antelope Valley is located in northern Los Angeles County, California, and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated between the Tehachapi, Sierra Pelona, and t ...
. The attackers attempted to fire in automatic mode several times, but due to a design flaw in the fire-control system the rockets failed to launch.
Suddenly the drone turned back towards Los Angeles. Einstein and Hurliman were forced to switch from the faulty automatic mode to manual fire. The D-model Scorpions had been delivered with
gun sights, but when the E-6 fire-control system was later added, the sights were removed. Now, with the radar-guided system inoperative and no gun sight, the attackers were forced to manually aim the unguided rockets. The F-89D was capable of firing all 104 of its rockets at once, all leaving their tubes in only 0.4
s. The rockets could also be set to "ripple fire" in two different patterns: two ripples (64 and 42 rockets) or three ripples (42, 32, and 30 rockets). A single hit was sufficient to bring down an aircraft.
[ Murray and Hale set their ]intervalometer
An intervalometer, also called an interval meter or interval timer, is a device that measures short intervals of time. People commonly use such devices to signal, in accurate time intervals, the operation of some other device. The intervalomete ...
s to "ripple fire" in three salvos.
While the drone flew over Castaic
Castaic () (Chumash: ''Kaštiq''; Spanish: ''Castéc'') is an unincorporated community in the northwestern part of Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 19,015. For statistical purposes the Census Bureau ...
, the first crew lined up and fired 42 rockets, completely missing their target. The second interceptor moved into position and unleashed another salvo of 42, the rockets passing just beneath the bright red drone, a few glancing off the fuselage underside, but none detonating. Close to the town of Newhall the pair of jets made a second pass, launching a total of 64 rockets; again none found the mark. The two Scorpion crews adjusted their intervalometer settings and, as the wayward drone headed northeast toward Palmdale, each fired a last salvo of 30 at the target with no hits, dispensing their last rockets. In all, the Air Force element fired 208 rockets and were unable to shoot the Hellcat down.[X Plane Crashes. Page 128. .]
As the Scorpion pilots headed home low on fuel, the drone advanced toward Palmdale
Palmdale is a city in northern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. The city lies in the Antelope Valley region of Southern California. The San Gabriel Mountains separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles Basin to the south.
On Aug ...
, its engine sputtering from fuel starvation
In an internal combustion engine, fuel starvation is the failure of the fuel system to supply sufficient fuel to allow the engine to run properly, for example due to blockage, vapor lock, contamination by water, malfunction of the fuel pump or in ...
. The drone slowly descended in an easy spiral, approaching a desolate section of desert east from Palmdale Regional Airport
: ''See: United States Air Force Plant 42 for the United States Government use of the facility''
Palmdale Regional Airport is an airport in Palmdale, California, United States. The city of Palmdale took over the airport at the end of 2013, mana ...
. Just before crashing, the drone severed three Southern California Edison
Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International, is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 15 million people with electricity across a service territory of ap ...
electric cables along an unpaved section of Avenue P. The drone's right wing dug into the sand, it then cartwheeled and disintegrated. In July 1997 archeologists found some pieces of the drone "identifiable by part numbers and inspection stamps".[
Ground transmitter failure and aircraft receiver malfunction are two possible explanations for the drone going rogue.]
Aftermath
The incident resulted in damage on the ground. The Mk. 4 rockets were fitted with point-detonating warheads that armed on firing. Of the 208 rockets, only 15 were discovered undetonated.
The first set of rockets started brush fires northeast from Castaic
Castaic () (Chumash: ''Kaštiq''; Spanish: ''Castéc'') is an unincorporated community in the northwestern part of Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 19,015. For statistical purposes the Census Bureau ...
which burned above the old Ridge Route near Bouquet Canyon.
Some of the second set of rockets reached the ground near the city of Newhall. In Placerita Canyon, one rocket was seen bouncing along the ground and starting a series of fires near a park, while others set fire to oil sumps owned by the Indian Oil Co. The fires reached within of the Bermite Powder explosives plant. Other rockets started fires in the proximity of Soledad Canyon
Soledad Canyon is a long narrow canyon/valley located in Los Angeles County, California between the cities of Palmdale and Santa Clarita. It is a part of the Santa Clara River Valley, and extends from the top of Soledad Pass to the open plain of ...
, near Mount Gleason, burning more than of rough brush.
The final set of rockets were fired while the Scorpions faced Palmdale; many landed within the town. "As the drone passed over Palmdale's downtown, Mighty Mouse rockets fell like hail." "Edna Carlson, who lived in the home on Third Street East, said that a chunk of shrapnel from one Air Force rocket burst through the front window of her home, ricocheted off the ceiling, went through a wall and came to rest in a kitchen cupboard." More rocket fragments completely penetrated a home and garage on 4th Street East. One rocket landed right in front of a vehicle being driven west on California State Route 138
State Route 138 (SR 138) is an east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California that generally follows the northern foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and the western Mojave Desert. The scenic highway begins in the west at its ...
near Tenth Street West, of which one tire was shredded and many holes were punched through the car's body. Two men in Placerita Canyon had been eating in their utility truck; right after they left it to sit under the shade of a tree, a rocket struck the truck, destroying it. Many fires were started near Santa Clarita
Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-largest city by population in Los Angeles County, the 17t ...
, with three large ones and many smaller ones in and around Palmdale.
It took 500 firefighters two days to bring the brushfires under control. were burned. There were no fatalities.[X Plane Crashes. Page 128. .]
See also
* Cornfield Bomber
The "Cornfield Bomber" is the nickname given to a Convair F-106 Delta Dart, operated by the 71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron of the United States Air Force. In 1970, during a training exercise, it made an unpiloted landing in a farmer's field ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmdale, Battle of
Air-to-air combat operations and battles
Palmdale, California
1956 in California
Military history of California
August 1956 events in the United States