This isn't new...
The De Havilland DH 82B ‘Queen Bee’ was developed to the 1933 Air Ministry Specification 18/33. It combined the fuselage of the D.H.60G III Moth Major with all other components from the DH 82 ‘Tiger Moth’. It could be flown by a pilot from the first cockpit, while the radio equipment was fitted in the rear cockpit.
First conventional flight was on January 5, 1935, the radio control development started in June 1935 from HMS Orion. The Air Ministry ordered a total of 420 Queen Bee to Specification 20/35, 320 were contracted to De Havilland and 100 to Scottish Aviation Ltd (SAL - who later went on to build the Bulldog and Jetstream aircraft), deliveries were completed in July 1944. The RAF operated the Queen Bee from RAF Farnborough’s No 1 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit (11 Apr 1938 - 1 Oct 1942). This unit operated Pilotless Aircraft Sections (‘A’ to ‘Z’ Flt) at various locations throughout the country for summer camps (such as RAF Cleave, Henlow, Hawkinge and Weyborne). These flights returned to Farnborough during the winter and often closed. It went on to form the Pilotless Aircraft Unit at RAF Manorbier (5 May 1942 - 15 Mar 1946). A senior US Navy Admiral witnessed the Queen Bee in operation in 1936 and found the concept very interesting. He set up a US Navy program under Lieutenant Commander Delmar S. Farnhey. By 1937, Farnhey's team had converted a number of light aircraft to radio-controlled targets and used them in exercises. It is said that Farnhey invented the term "drone" for robot aircraft as homage to the Queen Bee and the fixed-pitch drone they made when the RAF’s remote operators made so few throttle demands to produce a predictable gunnery target for training.
Here is a pic of a Queen Bee...
So I guess "Drone" is an American word like "Color", "Pants", "Drugstore", "Freeway", "Cop", "Muffler" and "Ranch"; it is not a Queen's English word in this context!
BEagle, my dear chap, are you sure that you want to speak Colonial's English?
LJ
