Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 3:02:06-3:02:29

British Queen Bee target drones had navigation mishaps

Britain's early radio-controlled target aircraft did not reproduce one cited American accident exactly, but some wandered into foreign airspace.

Naval AviationQueen Bee Target DroneRoyal NavyTarget DronesUncrewed Aircraft
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Question

Did Britain suffer incidents with rogue target drones?

Short answer

Yes. Queen Bee targets sometimes left their intended area and crossed into foreign airspace.

Notes

The Queen Bee gave British forces a reusable target for anti-aircraft training and remote-control development. Early control systems were imperfect, so the aircraft could depart the intended range. British examples reportedly crossed into foreign airspace even if the specific American episode was not repeated in the same form. Uncrewed aviation brought navigation and sovereignty problems long before modern drones.