Can someone please ID this drone?

[Chris Brame]

Can my fellow WIXers ID this old drone coming up for auction?

http://www.auctionsamerica.com/events/f ... 1&ID=r1789

Did NAS Glenview use these for gunnery training?

[shrike]

Looks to be a Radioplane OQ-3 or TTD-2

[Clifford Bossie]

Can my fellow WIXers ID this old drone coming up for auction?

http://www.auctionsamerica.com/events/f ... 1&ID=r1789

Did NAS Glenview use these for gunnery training?

It is one of the Radioplane drones and appears to be either an OQ-2, or OQ-3. I will go out on a limb and say it is an OQ-2.

[The Inspector]

Wasn't Jane Russell heavily involved in RADIOPLANE?

[shrike]

Marylin Monroe


And the company was an outgrowth of Reginald Denny's model airplane hobby

[The Inspector]

I thought another wartime era film bombshell actress was involved in a drone company or ran one-I've got photos in books of Norma Jean in publicity stills for the DC-6 being served coffee and another with her waking up in a sleeper bed

[Randy Wilson]

I think it is an OQ-2 model, as the OQ-3 wasn't fitted with landing gear, nor were the Navy versions, to the best of my knowledge. However, the OQ-2 had counter rotating props, while the OQ-3 had a single prop, so the one in the photos may be missing a prop or had its engine changed or altered at some point. A good source for more info is "50 Years of Target Drone Aircraft" by Richard A. Botzum, published by Northrup in 1985. A picture on page 6 is captioned "Radioplane Company OQ-3 target assembler Norma Jean Dougherty (a.k.a. Marilyn Monroe) in June 1945".

Randy

P.S. I just found this site with a lot of info on the Radioplane drones, including a lot of images.
http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/rpav_radioplane.html

[Chris Brame]

Thanks for all the info; from the looks of it I'd agree it's an OQ-2 or TDD; the engine isn't a Righter as they show on the site but a Herkimer per the data plate (which doesn't look military). An article I found on the found about that engine company makes a reference to producing a design for a drone engine but doesn't say if any were built, then skips ahead to the postwar version. Did Herkimer license-build the Righter engine?

Has anyone heard of these drones being sold surplus and converted to RC sport planes after the war? Seems like there aren't many left; maybe the lucky buyer could rig it up to fly again. Sure would be a cool airshow attraction!

[Cherrybomber13]

What do you think one of these is worth / would cost?
Do plans exist for the QQ-2 or QQ-3 exist?

[Fleet16b]

What do you think one of these is worth / would cost?
Do plans exist for the QQ-2 or QQ-3 exist?

We had one of these for many years. It was from the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics
Ours , a OQ-2, had counter rotating props, all original fabric , the original parachute and radio equip. was all intact.
A few years back we sold it to a collector in Italy for $4200cn

[Chris Brame]

Hammer it sold! $4500.00 top bid plus usual auction BS fees. Somebody's got a cool new toy...

[AvroAvian]

According to Wikipedia, Marilyn Monroe was "discovered" at the Radioplane factory at Van Nuys. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OQ-2_Radioplane.
I reckon it would very, very cool to have one of these flying as a 1:1 scale "model".
I got to learn a new piece of trivia too...

[Cherrybomber13]

Spotted this on Ebay. I am not associated with them just thought it was sorta topical.
RIGHTER 0-45-1 US Army Air Force Drone Engine from WWII era. It appears to be in very good condition. $1800

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RIGHTER-0-45-1-US-Army-Air-Force-Drone-Engine-WWII-/160629465536?_trksid=p4340.m1374&_trkparms=algo%3DPI.WATCH%26its%3DC%252BS%26itu%3DUCC%26otn%3D15%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D4574524076936967279#ht_500wt_1054