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In 1935, U.S. Adm. William H. Standley saw a British demonstration of the Royal Navy's new remote-control aircraft for target practice, the DH 82B Queen Bee. Ba
by jws 12y ago
In 1935, U.S. Adm. William H. Standley saw a British demonstration of the Royal Navy's new remote-control aircraft for target practice, the DH 82B Queen Bee. Back stateside, Standley charged Commander Delmer Fahrney with developing something similar for the Navy. "Fahrney adopted the name 'drone' to refer to these aircraft in homage to the Queen Bee," Mr. Zaloga wrote. The term fit, as a drone could only function when controlled by an operator on the ground or in a "mother" plane.
A stern googling will get you the Wall Street Journal article this comes from. If I link it, they won't let you read it.
- baddox 12y agoWhich is why, being an RC aircraft hobbyist myself, I can't stand when other RC hobbyists make the ludicrous revisionist argument that "drone" only refers to either autonomous vehicles or weaponized military vehicles. It's an extremely common argument in the RC community, and it's patently ridiculous.