This WWII film, which has sound by the way only it’s incredibly low, shows the U.S. Navy’s experimental WWII weapon the TDN-1 drone. Built by the Naval Aircraft Factory, the TDN was an early unmanned combat aerial vehicle – referred to at the time as an “assault drone” – developed by the United States Navy’s Naval Aircraft Factory during the Second World War. Developed and tested during 1942 and 1943, the design featured a television camera in the nose and could be flown by remote control by pilots aboard chase aircraft.
The TDN-1 proved moderately successful, but it was expensive to build. A successor aircraft that could be built cheaply, the Interstate TDR-1, was eventually built and flown in combat against Japanese targets in the Pacific in 1944. The TDN-1 was relegated to second-line duties, and none were used in operational service.
One hundred production TDN-1 aircraft were ordered in March 1942. Despite being specifically designed to be a simple, low-performance aircraft, and despite proving promising in testing, the type was considered to be too complicated and expensive for use operationally. The improved Interstate TDR was selected for development as an alternative, the majority of TDN-1s being used in the test, liaison and training roles, with some being expended as aerial targets. The TDN-1 is often credited as the first US drone to take off from an aircraft carrier freely — in this case the “Great Lakes Carrier” USS Sable. An Airspeed Queen Wasp had already been catapulted from HMS Pegasus in 1937. However the TDN-1 was a far more sophisticated aircraft than the British counterpart, in that it was equipped with television guidance.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
This rare film shows testing of TDN-1 Torpedo Drone aircraft, including aircraft carrier suitability tests conducted on the Great Lakes aboard the “carrier” USS Sable. The TDN-1 was the prototype of a new class of weapon, an Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle, but was cancelled due to cost. In its place a new weapon was developed, the TDR-1 Torpedo Drone. Developed in total secrecy during the early stages of the war by the U.S. Navy, the TDR-1 could carry a torpedo or bombs which it could drop on a target (or, it could ram a target and use its fuel as part of the attack). The drone was designed primarily as an anti-ship weapon and intended to be deployed aboard U.S. aircraft carriers. It was controlled by a pilot on the ground or in a chase aircraft at a distance of up to several miles. Although the TDR-1 was never deployed to the full extent its designers imagined, the primitive aircraft did have a full scale service test in 1944. TDR-1s were sent to the South Pacific and flown under combat conditions against Japanese gun emplacements and buildings, and with considerable effect. This rare film shows TDR-1s striking a target ship during the deployment. Despite the success of this test and their fairly impressive combat record the TDR-1 project was scrapped prior to the end of the war. Visit http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigation/drone-propeller/ to see a History Detectives episode about this weapon system.
