The Fairchild BQ-3, also known as the Model 79, was an early expendable

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

– referred to at the time as an " assault drone" – developed by Fairchild Aircraft from the company's AT-21 Gunner advanced trainer during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

for use by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

. Two examples of the type were built and flight-tested, but the progress of

guided missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket ...

s rendered the assault drone quickly obsolete, and the type was not produced.

Design and development

Development of the BQ-3 began in October, 1942, under a program for the development of "aerial torpedoes", later and more commonly referred to as "assault drones", that had been instigated in March of that year. Fairchild was awarded a contract for the construction of two XBQ-3 prototypes, based largely on the AT-21 Gunner advanced gunnery trainer already in United States Army Air Forces service.Parsch 2003 The XBQ-3 was a twin-engined, low-wing aircraft, fitted with retractable

tricycle landing gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle g ...

and a twin-finned

empennage The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third ed ...

; although the aircraft was intended to be operated by radio control with television assist, a two-seat cockpit was included in the design for testing and ferry flights.Jane's 1947, p.424. Power was provided by two Ranger V-770 inline piston engines of each; up to of explosives could be carried by the aircraft in unmanned configuration. Like the contemporary

Fleetwings BQ-2 The Fleetwings BQ-2 was an early expendable unmanned aerial vehicle — referred to at the time as an " assault drone" — developed by Fleetwings during the Second World War for use by the United States Army Air Forces. Only a single example of ...

, the aircraft would be destroyed in the act of striking the target.

Flight testing

The first flight of the XBQ-3 took place in July 1944; later that month, one of the prototypes was severely damaged in a forced landing.Werrell 1985, p.30. Despite the accident, flight testing continued; however, the assault drone was determined to have no significant advantage over conventional bombers, and advances in the field of

s were rapidly rendering the concept obsolete.Craven and Cate 1955, p.254. As a result, the program was cancelled towards the end of 1944.

Design and development

Flight testing

Specifications (XBQ-3)

See also

References

Further reading