The WW2 Aircraft Turned into a Giant Missile



Over the churning waters of the Pacific in 1944, a new kind of warfare was unfolding. Armed with cutting-edge technology, the US Navy unleashed its secret weapon: the Interstate TDR, a fleet of unmanned drones, each a harbinger of destruction. These mechanical birds of prey, laden with explosives, soared towards their target.

The first drone dove with lethal precision, striking the enemy ship’s midsection. The impact was catastrophic, unleashing a massive explosion that ripped through the sea air. Smoke and debris mushroomed into the sky, marking the ferocity of the strike.

The second drone narrowly missed its mark, veering past the ship’s superstructure and crashing into the ocean’s depths.

The third, with its payload primed, zeroed in on the ship’s bow. In a tense moment of near success, it fell agonizingly short, skimming past the target without detonation.

Then came the fourth drone, the final shot. It found its target near the ship’s vulnerable rear, detonating with a thunderous roar. The explosion tore through the hull, engulfing the vessel in a raging inferno.

This operation marked a monumental victory for the US Navy, heralding the dawn of a new era in remote-controlled warfare. The Interstate TDR had not just struck a blow against an enemy ship; it had opened a new chapter in the history of aerial unmanned systems.

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28 thoughts on “The WW2 Aircraft Turned into a Giant Missile”

  1. The Germans had a similar weapon, the Henschel Hs-293, another TV guided bomb, though this was rocket powered and shorter range. Its usefulness was limited because the Allies soon learned how to jam the control signals, causing the missile to circle uselessly until it fell into the sea.

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  2. Idiots in the US Navy who didn't realize what they had: kamikaze drones 80 years early. These things had 20% hit rates with zero casualties. But the Navy decided that conventional attacks with 2% success rates along with routine deaths of aircrew was better.

    And they threw away the technology.

    Idiots.

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  3. While I can agree that the TDR-1 program was innovative,it's effectiveness ws also quite telling. Thanks to technical limitations of the day the TDR-1 story, like that of Germany's V-1 program was destined to only deliver limited results. The Hs-293 and the Fritz-X, on the other hand, better fulfilled their missions.

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  4. I see why the politicians were not happy with this idea, all these completed missions without killing any of their own.
    Compare this to ww1's trench warfare of "going over the top" to be masicared just in the hope that the opposition would run out of ammo and the small group of your own get through to kill a small group of the other side, before being killed by reinforcements rushing in.

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  5. So, the TDR-1 stopped flying missions in Sept 1944 and the first Kamikaze attacks by Japan started in Oct 1944. It's funny how people don't talk about how the US gave Japan the idea of crashing planes loaded with bombs into ships…

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