QUEEN BEE RADIO PLANE

Northern Advocate, 26 July 1935, Page 3

QUEEN BEE RADIO PLANE

SHOT DOWN BY RODNEY. MECHANISM KEPT SECRET. A cable message last week stated that the pilotless biplane Queen Bee was shot down by gunfire from H.M.S. Rodney in the Navy exercises off Portsmouth. The Queen Bee was constructed by the de Havilland Company for use as a target in anti-aircraft practice. Gunners are thus afforded entirely realistic opportunities for fire at aerial targets, with resultant gain in effectiveness of aim. Little about the external appearance of the Queen Bee discloses its unusual qualities. Structurally it is similar to the Tiger Moth light trainer, which is used in the Royal Air Force and in several foreign air forces; the chief difference is that the Tiger Moth is made of metal and the pilotless aeroplane of wood, which ensures, among other desirable qualities, that the machine will float if it is brought down on the water by gunfire. Like the Tiger Moth, it has a Gipsy Moth 130 h.p. 'air-cooled engine.

Metal projections on the fuselage are the catapulting points for launching. A fixed aerial of the usual kind stre.tches from each wing-tip, to the tail unit. The front cockpit is open, and can be rapidly fitted with flying controls for use at need by a human pilot. The rear cockpit is enclosed; it contains the mysterious mechanism which controls the craft on its course in obedience to radio signals sent from a ship or a ground battery. The maximum radius of controlled pilotless flight is about 10 miles from the operating centre. The Queen Bees are built with wheel or float undercarriages, according to the particular duties imposed on them. Their controlling mechanism • remains a strict official secret.

This new type is regularly used for target practice from ship and shore batteries. Recently a special service: flight of the Royal Air Force was formed and supplied with Queen Bee aeroplanes. Its secret controlling mechanism is the result of ten years’ development by the technical department of the Air Ministry. On many occasions it has been flown without a pilot up to distances of 10 miles from the control station on the ground or in a battleship, and at varying heights up to about 10,000 ft. On two occasions an aeroplane of this type has been brought down by antiaircraft fire. The value of this type of machine for target practice led about a year ago to the formation of a flight specially devoted to this duty.

The wireless apparatus by which remote control is secured must still remain a secret, but those who are acquainted with experiments in the wireless control of ships may be able to arrive at theories as • to how an aeroplanes which moves about three axes may be controlled. Reports from abroad indicate that Germany is well advanced in the technique of the pilotless aeroplane, as well as the United States. Experiments have also been carried out in France and Italy.