British unmanned aerial vehicles of World War I

Lore & Background

The history of British UAVs in World War I began with work at the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough soon after its 1912 reorganisation. By 1914, an engineering drawing showed an unmanned powered monoplane 9 ft long with a 10 ft wingspan, intended as a counter to German dirigible airships. This design was called Aerial Target (AT), a misnomer to disguise its true purpose. Henry Folland designed an AT powered by an ABC Gnat engine, built by Ruston Proctor of Lincoln in 1916 and 1917. Sopwith, with Harry Hawker, built a single-bay biplane AT with a 14 ft wingspan, designed to carry a 50 lb explosive charge, but it was damaged during erection and never tested.

All 1917 Aerial Target aircraft used the radio control system devised by Archibald Low at the RFC's Experimental Works in Feltham. One of Geoffrey de Havilland's AT aircraft, powered by a Gnat engine, was launched from a pneumatically powered ramp at Upavon on 21 March 1917 and became the world's first powered drone to fly under radio control. The control system used an engine-driven actuator that applied progressively increasing deflection of the selected control surface until released by the ground operator; springs returned the surface to trim when no control was demanded. Low's system encoded command transmissions as a counter-measure against enemy intervention, with codes that could be changed daily.

By July 1917, six Aerial Targets designed by the Factory had been built and tested at Northolt. Attempts to launch the first three from rails on the ground all resulted in crashes, and the trials were terminated. Despite this, the Aerial Target was later acknowledged as a viable weapon. The project was transferred to Biggin Hill, to what became the Wireless Experimental Establishment, and by 1922 the work had returned to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough.

Reader's Guide

The significance of British unmanned aerial vehicles of World War I lies in their demonstration of radio-controlled flight, a foundational technology for later drone development. The Aerial Target programme, though limited in operational success, proved that aircraft carrying high explosive charges could be controlled by wireless. Archibald Low's encoding system, designed to prevent enemy interference, anticipated modern secure communications. The work at Feltham also influenced other remote-control projects, including the Distance Control Boats for the Royal Navy. The 1917 flight at Upavon is recognised as the first powered drone flight under radio control. The legacy of these early UAVs continued into the interwar period at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, where the technology was further refined. The secrecy surrounding the Aerial Target cover name and the later classification of related patents underscore the military sensitivity of this pioneering work.

Did You Know?

• The Aerial Target was a cover name intended to deceive the Germans into thinking it was a drone for testing anti-aircraft systems.
• Archibald Low's radio control system encoded command transmissions with codes that could be changed daily to prevent enemy intervention.
• The world's first powered drone flight under radio control took place on 21 March 1917 at Upavon.
• The Feltham Experimental Works also assisted with testing the Pomeroy bullet and George Constantinescu's synchronization gear.