The Radioplane OQ-6 was a
target drone developed 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 ...
under the designation RP-14 and evaluated by the
United States Army Air Forces for service use. A small number were procured, but major production contracts were cancelled by the end of
World War II.
Design and development
The Radioplane RP-14 was a small aircraft of conventional design, with a strut-braced
monoplane wing and conventional
empennage; power was from a
Righter O-45
The Righter/Kiekhaefer O-45 was an air-cooled, two-stroke aircraft engine of flat-twin configuration, used extensively for powering target drones in the late 1940s. four-cylinder horizontally-opposed piston engine. An improved version, the RP-15, replaced the O-45 with a
McCulloch O-90
McCulloch is a Scottish surname. It's a variation of the Northern Irish surname McCullough. It's commonly found in Galloway.
Notable people with the surname include:
* Alan McCulloch (politician), New Zealand politician
*Alan McLeod McCulloch ...
. The airframe was improved over the company's preceding
OQ-3, with improved streamlining.
[Parsch 2003]
Operational history
The RP-14 first flew in November 1944; designated OQ-6 by the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF), evaluation led to the development of the improved RP-15, designated OQ-6A, and orders for production of the aircraft in quantity were placed. These orders were cancelled due to
the end of World War II; however, some OQ-6s, redesignated XOQ-6A, were still in service with the
United States Air Force (USAF) in 1948.
Variants and operators
;RP-14
:Initial version powered by Righter O-45
;OQ-6
:USAAF designation of RP-14.
;RP-15
:Improved version of RP-14 with McCulloch O-90;
top speed .
[Churchill 1946, p.114.]
;OQ-6A
:USAAF designation of RP-15.
;XOQ-6A
:USAF redesignation of surviving OQ-6s and OQ-6As.
Specifications (OQ-6)
See also
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
*
*
{{US unmanned aircraft
OQ-006
1940s United States special-purpose aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Mid-wing aircraft
Target drones
Aircraft first flown in 1944