Atlantic Ocean – June 22, 1948
F6F Hellcat
U. S. Navy Photo
On the morning of June 22, 1948, a radio-controlled navy fighter plane, (a drone.), took off from Otis Air Force Base in Falmouth, Massachusetts. The drone was a converted Grumman Hellcat which had been pained red, and was to be controlled by a signal from another aircraft that would shadow the drone.
The converted Hellcat was meant to be a target for anti-aircraft batteries aboard the cruiser U.S.S. Providence which was conducting training exercises off the Massachusetts coast.
Shortly after the drone became airborne the radio signal was lost, and the plane flew off on its own and disappeared from sight. It carried enough fuel to remain in the sky for 2.5 hours.
An alert was sent to Quonset Point NAS, the Coast Guard station in Salem, as well as local airport control towers and law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for the drone.
Around noon time the crew of a fishing boat, the Roberta D. observed the drone crash into the sea and recovered some wreckage, which they turned over to the Coast Guard.
There were no injuries.
Source:
Evening Bulletin, (RI), “Drone Plane Runs Wild, Crashes In Sea”, June 22, 1948, pg. 30.
