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The Royal Aircraft Establishment Larynx (from "Long Range Gun with Lynx engine") was an early British pilotless aircraft, to be used as a guided anti-ship weapon. Started in September 1925, it was an early
(1.0) The Aerial Torpedo
* ttp://wih.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/9/2/197 Interwar British Experiments with Pilotless Aircraft pay to access
"Automatic Flight"
a 1958 ''Flight'' article
The Mother of All Drones - Article Vintage Wings of Canada
Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United Kingdom Unmanned military aircraft of the United Kingdom Guided missiles of the United Kingdom Aircraft manufactured in the United Kingdom Single-engined tractor aircraft Mid-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1927
The Royal Aircraft Establishment Larynx (from "Long Range Gun with Lynx engine") was an early British pilotless aircraft, to be used as a guided anti-ship weapon. Started in September 1925, it was an early cruise missile
A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...
guided by an autopilot
An autopilot is a system used to control the path of an aircraft, marine craft or spacecraft without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator' ...
.
Design
A small monoplane powered by aArmstrong Siddeley Lynx
The Armstrong Siddeley Lynx is a British seven-cylinder aero engine developed by Armstrong Siddeley. Testing began in 1920 and 6,000 had been produced by 1939. In Italy Alfa Romeo built a licensed version of this engine named the Alfa Romeo ...
IV engine, it had a top speed of 200 mph (320 km/h), faster than contemporary fighters.
It used autopilot principles developed by Professor Archibald Low and already used in the Ruston Proctor AT Ruston may refer to:
Place names
;United States
* Ruston, Louisiana
* Ruston, Washington
;United Kingdom
* East Ruston, Norfolk, England
* Ruston, North Yorkshire, England
* Ruston Parva, East Riding of Yorkshire, England
Companies
* Ruston (engi ...
, a radio controlled biplane that was intended to be used against German Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...
bombers.
Project history
* First test 20 July 1927. Launched fromcordite
Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in the United Kingdom since 1889 to replace black powder as a military propellant. Like modern gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burn ...
-powered catapult fitted to the S class destroyer . Crashed into Bristol Channel.
* Second test 1 September 1927. Thought to have flown 100 miles (160 km) and was then lost.
* Third test 15 October 1927. 112 mile (180 km) flight, hit five miles from target.
* Two more launches in September and October 1928 from , another S class destroyer.
* Two launches May 1929. Launched from land, one overflew target and other was successful.
Specifications
See also
*Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane
The Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane was a project undertaken during World War I to develop a flying bomb, or pilotless aircraft capable of carrying explosives to its target. It is considered by some to be a precursor of the cruise missile.
Co ...
* Kettering Bug
The Kettering Bug was an experimental unmanned aerial torpedo, a forerunner of present-day cruise missiles. It was capable of striking ground targets up to from its launch point, while traveling at speeds of . The Bug's costly design and operat ...
* V-1 flying bomb
The V-1 flying bomb (german: Vergeltungswaffe 1 "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany), Reich Aviation Ministry () designation was Fi 103. It was also known to the Allies as the buz ...
References
{{ReflistExternal links
(1.0) The Aerial Torpedo
* ttp://wih.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/9/2/197 Interwar British Experiments with Pilotless Aircraft pay to access
"Automatic Flight"
a 1958 ''Flight'' article
The Mother of All Drones - Article Vintage Wings of Canada
Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United Kingdom Unmanned military aircraft of the United Kingdom Guided missiles of the United Kingdom Aircraft manufactured in the United Kingdom Single-engined tractor aircraft Mid-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1927