Britain used Queen Bee target drones for air-defence training from the mid-1930s, before the large American wartime programmes cited in the question. A later exchange disputes the claim that the Queen Bee could not reproduce a diving attack. British concern about dive bombing had grown after observing the war in China and the Spanish Civil War. The example places remote-controlled aerial targets in a longer pre-war history.
Notable Point · 1:05:43-1:06:13
Queen Bee drones before the Second World War
British forces were already using Queen Bee drones for air-defence training in the mid-1930s.