Ryan Firebee Q-2C Drone (UAV, RPV) (Model 124, BQM-34A) ~ 1960 Ryan Aeronautical (Patreon)

more at http://quickfound.net/

Originally a public domain film from the National Archives or Library of Congress Prelinger Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Firebee

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The Ryan Firebee is a series of target drones developed by the Ryan Aeronautical Company beginning in 1951. It was one of the first jet-propelled drones, and remains one of the most widely used target drones ever built...

The Firebee I was the result of a 1948 U.S. Air Force request and contract to Ryan for a jet-powered gunnery target. The first flight of the XQ-2 Firebee prototype took place in early 1951...

Following successful evaluation the target was ordered into production for the USAF as the Q-2A...

The U.S. Navy bought the Firebee as the KDA-1...

Model 124/BQM-34A

In the late 1950s, the USAF awarded Ryan a contract for a substantially improved "second generation" Firebee, the Model 124, originally with the designation Q-2C. The initial prototype performed its first flight in late 1958 and went into production in 1960. In 1963, it was redesignated the BQM-34A. The old first-generation KDA-1 and KDA-4 targets then still flying with the Navy were (somewhat confusingly) given the respective redesignations AQM-34B and AQM-34C.

The BQM-34A emerged as the Firebee as it is recognized today, with a bigger airframe, longer wings, and a particular "chin"-type inlet under a pointed nose (in contrast to the circular intake of the first-generation Firebees). It was powered by a Continental J69-T-29A turbojet, a copy of the improved Turbomeca Gourdon derivative of the Marbore, with 1,700 lbf (7.6 kN) thrust. The U.S. Navy also adopted the BQM-34A, while the Army obtained a ground-launched version designated MQM-34D with longer wings and a heavier JATO booster.

A feature of the second-generation Firebee is that some photographs show it to with triangular endplates on the tailplane, while others show no endplates but feature a ventral fin under the tail, and still others have neither endplates nor ventral fin. Since most modern photographs of Firebees show the ventral fin, this may have been due to production changes or later refits (reference sources are unclear on this).

In 1960 the first stealth technology development program was initiated by USAF, by reducing the radar cross-section of a Q-2C drone. This was achieved through specially designed screens over the air intake, radiation-absorbent material on the fuselage and a special radar-absorbing paint.[2]

During the 1970s the U.S. Army updated some of their MQM-34Ds for use as targets for FIM-92 Stinger man-portable SAMs, refitting these drones with a General Electric J85-GE-7 turbojet of 10.9 kN (2,500 lbf) thrust which were salvaged from old ADM-20 Quail decoys. The modified MQM-34Ds featured a revised forward fuselage with a circular nose intake that gave them an appearance similar to that of a "stretched" first-generation Q-2A target, and were given the designation of MQM-34D Mod II.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy upgraded the avionics in their BQM-34As, which were then designated BQM-34S. In the early 1980s the Navy also began to refit these with the uprated J69-T-41A engine of 1,920 lbf (8.5 kN) thrust. The Air Force began to update their BQM-34As with improved avionics and also the J85-GE-7 engine which was fitted without major changes in the drone's airframe; the improved USAF variants retained their existing BQM-34A designation.

BQM-34A production ended in 1982, but the production line was reopened in 1986 to produce more BQM-34S targets. Air Force and Navy Firebees have received further upgrades since that time, most refitted beginning in 1989 with the improved J85-GE-100 engine (also with 2,450 lbf (10.9 kN) thrust) as well as modernized avionics. In the late 1990s some Firebees were also fitted with GPS navigation receivers.

The Firebee's main air launch platform is the Lockheed DC-130 drone controller aircraft, which can carry four drones on underwing pylons...