spannerhead,
I suspect that you are thinking of an experiment quite a few years ago with a 720 (as I recall). The intent was to look at various aspects of crashworthiness. The aircraft was flown by remote control to a landing in amongst some stakes to control the rupture of the wings. My recollection of some technical reports at the time is that the experiment was quite successful.
So far as RPV style operations are concerned, the industry has been doing just that for many years. Australia has made a tidy sum with Jindivik target RPVs dating back to a long time ago.