The Radioplane XKD4R, known by the company designation RP-70, was an American
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 ...
developed by the
Radioplane Division of the
Northrop Corporation
Northrop Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer from its formation in 1939 until its 1994 merger with Grumman to form Northrop Grumman. The company is known for its development of the flying wing design, most successfully the B-2 Spiri ...
. Although it was not produced in quantity, it was developed into the successful
AQM-38.
Design and development
The XKD4R was an air-launched target drone, powered by a single
Aerojet
Aerojet was an American rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Rancho Cordova, California, with divisions in Redmond, Washington, Orange and Gainesville in Virginia, and Camden, Arkansas. Aerojet was owned by GenCorp. ...
solid-fuel rocket engine which exhausted through nozzles located at the trailing edges of the wing.
[New American Missiles]
. ''Flight'', 8 February 1957. Volume 71, No. 2507. p.167. Constructed largely of molded plastic,
it utilized an unconventional control configuration, consisting of three
canard control fins located forwards, one on top of and one on either side of the
fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...
, and fixed horizontal fins at the rear. 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' ...
controlled the drone after launch; at the end of an approximately nine-minute flight, a parachute was deployed for recovery.
[Parsch 2003]
Operational history
Conducting its first flight in January 1958,
the XKD4R-1 was tested extensively by 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 ...
, launches usually being conducted from
McDonnell F3H Demon
The McDonnell F3H Demon is a subsonic swept-wing United States Navy carrier-based jet fighter aircraft. The successor to the F2H Banshee, the Demon was originally designed to use the Westinghouse J40 engine, but had to be redesigned to accept ...
fighters.
[Fahey 1958, p.41.] Although satisfactory, the RP-70 was not produced; instead, the improved
RP-76 was developed, flying in 1959 and being produced for both the
U.S. Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air 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 of the United States Army Signal ...
and Navy, becoming the AQM-38 in 1962.
Specifications (XKD4R-1)
See also
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
*
*
{{USN drones
KD4R
Target drones of the United States
1950s United States special-purpose aircraft
Rocket-powered aircraft
Canard aircraft
Mid-wing aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1958