SD-1 reconnaissance drones built by Northrop's Radioplane Division demonstrated in Korea in 1960

While the the Pentagon made the U.S. Air Force an independent service in 1947, the Army retained its aviation branch in part because it recognized the potential for flying machines to observe enemy positions and spot targets for artillery units.
During World War II, both the U.S. Army Air Force and U.S. Navy began testing remote-controlled aircraft. Many of these early experiments resulting in what were essentially early cruise missiles. Any pilotless aircraft that could carry a warhead could however just as easily carry a camera or other equipment. In 1955, drone-maker Radioplane built what was essentially the first reconnaissance drone for the Army.
The firm based the design on an earlier target drone. These relatively cheap and expendable unmanned planes let anti-aircraft gunners practice their skills against a moving opponent. Radioplane’s offering was designated the SD-1 with SD standing for “surveillance drone”. It would later be designated as the MQM-57 Falconer.
The SD-1 weighed 430 lbs and used rocket motors for launch from rudimentary platforms as seen in the first part of the footage. On the ground, a soldier would monitor the progress along a pre-programmed route or actually fly the planes manually. When the mission was over, the drones would deploy a parachute for landing.
As such, the launch area only required trucks and dollies to move the drones around, tanks to hold fuel, trailers for generators, spare rockets and other equipment and a jeep to tow the radio control system. There was no need for a runway or other special facilities. A separate maintenance area consisted of more trucks carrying replacement parts and repair equipment, along with a large tent to shelter crews from the elements. According to the training handbook, an officer overseeing a dozen other troops was all that was necessary to staff both sites.
The pilotless aircraft had very limited range and needed to be close to the front lines to be effective. The SD-1 only had enough fuel to stay in the air for around 30 to 40 minutes, and in any case the radio signals could only communicate with the drone at short distances. A 80-mile round trip was the practical extent of the aircraft's flying capabilities.
The process of gathering the actual intelligence would also have been slow. When using film cameras, troops had to transport the exposed reels to other units with mobile darkrooms. While primitive compared to modern systems, it was still viable technology over half a century ago.
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[@flyawayandyk2916]

Korean Army still have it

[@northernskys]

Always interesting to see early technology like this, and where today's technology got it's start.

[@zwalada]

The us had even earlier a drone. But it was an attack drone not a reconnaissance drone. It was called the tdr-1 and was used in ww2.

[@SamLeutzNaturalBodyBulding]

@@zwaladathey had a bomber drone with TV cameras there is videos of it on here doing bombing runs in the pacific.

[@moredistractions]

Cool video, some of the earliest drones.

[@strazed1]

Interesting

[@thetigerii9506]

Can you post some southeast asian stuff? Wonder if you got any good footage

[@madhukarjonathanminj2772]

a mere 5-10 years later there were hobby grade rc aircraft better than this

[@easton3873]

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