New Mexico, on 1 February 1916, and consisted of people from technical
sections of the Air Materiel Command, at Wright-Patterson Air Base, who had
been engaged in development of drone operations.
There were also a number
of experienced B-17 bomber crews in the unit)? In this context, the Army
Air Forces Drone Unit had four B-l7 drone aircraft, four B-17 drone control
aircraft, and one B-17. master drone aircraft,
They were equipped with air
filters and air collection bags for gathering debris °°
Box-like filter
holders were mounted on the top and bottom of the drone aircraft fuselage,
Into these fitted two thicknesses of filter paper which admitted 90 cubic
feet of air through them, ‘Each “drone had a larger rubber bag which could
capture 90 cubic feet of air, These bags were opened for thirty seconds
while the drone passed through the cloud, then closed.
In addition, the
engine air intake filters on the drones were removed after a flight and
tested for radioactive debris, although this method produced very little
radioactivity,--me drones also carried cameras to record the growth of
the atomic cloud at close range.-Air Materiel Command technicians began an intensive training program
at Clovis Army Air Field to enable B-17 bomber crews.to handle drone aircraft,
Special courses in the use of radio-controlled equipment were instituted
and preparation for an activity never before attempted,
Drone aircraft
had been operated before by remote control, but during the drone training
program, safety pilots were aboard to prevent loss of these specially
modified aireraft.-> The Task Unit 1.5.3 accomplished its first training
mission on ll February 1946, and by 15 February 19)6, the first B~17
pilots began training in radio-controlling of drones from the ground
6
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