The OQ-2 Radioplane was the first mass-produced
UAV
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 ...
or drone in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, manufactured by the
Radioplane Company
The Radioplane Company was an American aviation company that produced drone aircraft primarily for use as gunnery targets. During World War II, they produced over 9,400 of their Radioplane OQ-3 model, a propeller-powered monoplane, making it the ...
. A follow-on version, the OQ-3, became the most widely used
target drone
A target drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle, generally remote controlled, usually used in the training of anti-aircraft crews.
One of the earliest drones was the British DH.82 Queen Bee, a variant of the Tiger Moth trainer aircraft operationa ...
in US service, with over 9,400 being built during
World War II
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 ...
.
History
![MarilynMonroe - YankArmyWeekly](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/MarilynMonroe_-_YankArmyWeekly.jpg)
The OQ-2 was originally a small
radio controlled
Radio control (often abbreviated to RC) is the use of control signals transmitted by radio to remotely control a device. Examples of simple radio control systems are garage door openers and keyless entry systems for vehicles, in which a sma ...
aircraft model designed by Walter Righter. The design, along with its engine design, was purchased by actor
Reginald Denny, who had demonstrated another model to the
US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
in 1940. Calling the new design the RP-2, he demonstrated several updated versions to the Army as the RP-2, RP-3 and RP-4 in 1939.
In 1940, the Army placed an order for 53 RP-4s (some sources refer to the RP-4 as OQ-1. but that designation was never assigned). This small order led to a much bigger 1941 order for the similar RP-5, which became the US Army OQ-2, the ''OQ'' meaning a "subscale target". The
US 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 of ...
also bought the drone, designating it TDD-1, for ''Target Drone, Denny, 1''. Thousands were built, manufactured at the
Radioplane plant at the
Van Nuys Airport
: ''For the United States Air Force use of the airport (1942–1990), see Van Nuys Air National Guard Base''
Van Nuys Airport is a public airport in the Van Nuys neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles. The airport is operated by Los Angeles Wo ...
in the
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
metropolitan area.
It was at this factory on June 26, 1945 that Army photographer
David Conover
David Conover (June 26, 1919 – December 21, 1983) was an author and documentary photographer who is credited with discovering Marilyn Monroe while taking photos for '' Yank'' magazine. While attached to the U.S. Army Air Forces' First Motio ...
saw a young woman assembler named Norma Jeane Dougherty, who he thought had potential as a model. She was photographed in the plant, which led to a screen test for Norma Jeane, who soon changed her name to
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
Description and variants
The OQ-2 is 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. Launching was by catapult only and recovered by parachute should it survive the target practice. The landing gear was used only on the OQ-2 versions as sold to the Army to cushion the landing by parachute. None of the drones including the improved variants shipped to the Navy had landing gear. The subsequent variants delivered to the Army did not have landing gear.
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 (including licensed contractors) 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".
After World War II ended, various experiment were made with Radioplane target drones. In one experiment in 1950, a derivative of the QQ-3 Radioplane drone was used to lay military communication wire.
During the war Radioplane manufactured nearly fifteen thousand drones. The company was bought by
Northrop in 1952.
Surviving aircraft
![Radioplane OQ-2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Radioplane_OQ-2.jpg)
* OQ-2 on display at the
National Museum of the United States Air Force
The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum) is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is the ...
in
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...
.
* OQ-2 on display at the
March Field Air Museum
The March Field Air Museum is an aviation museum near Moreno Valley and Riverside, California, adjacent to March Air Reserve Base.
History
The museum was founded in 1979 as March Air Force Base Museum. One of the first exhibits at the museum was ...
in
Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...
.
* OQ-2 on display at the Aviation Unmanned Vehicle Museum in
Caddo Mills, Texas
Caddo Mills ( ) is a city in Hunt County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,338 at the 2010 census, up from 1,149 at the 2000 census.
Geography
Caddo Mills is located in western Hunt County at (33.064748, –96.229040). Texas State Hig ...
.
* OQ-2 or OQ-3 on display at the
National Warplane Museum
The National Warplane Museum is a warbird and military history museum currently located on the grounds of the Geneseo Airport in Geneseo, New York. Founded in 1994, the museum restores, flies, and displays vintage military aircraft from the Second ...
in
Geneseo, New York
Geneseo is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Livingston County, New York, Livingston County in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, United States. It is at the south end of the five-county Rochester metropol ...
.
* RP-5A on display at the
Western Museum of Flight
The Western Museum of Flight (WMOF) is an aviation museum located at Zamperini Field, the municipal airport in Torrance, California. WMOF is operated by the Southern California Historical Aviation Foundation. It houses not only historic aircraft, ...
in
Torrance, California
Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the m ...
.
* OQ-2A on loan to the
Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
The ''Intrepid'' Sea, Air & Space Museum is an American military and maritime history museum in New York City with a collection of museum ships. It is located at Pier 86 at 46th Street, along the Hudson River, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhoo ...
in
New York, New York
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...
from the National Model Aviation Museum.
* OQ-2A on display at the Museum of the American G.I. in
College Station, Texas
College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, situated in East-Central Texas in the heart of the Brazos Valley, towards the eastern edge of the region known as the Texas Triangle. It is northwest of Houston and east-northeast of Austin. ...
.
Specifications (OQ-2)
See also
References
Sources
*
This article contains material that originally came from the web articl
''Unmanned Aerial Vehicles''by Greg Goebel, which exists in the Public Domain.
External links
a complete history of Radioplane in the World War II era.
{{DEFAULTSORT:OQ-2
1940s United States special-purpose aircraft
Unmanned aerial vehicles of the United States
Radioplane aircraft