Q-Birds: The Impact of American Manned Aircraft as Drones Hardcover – October 23, 2024

Fantastic photos

This new book presents the history of the American military’s use of ex-manned aircraft as drones used primarily as targets in the development of various missile systems. The author of the book is Frederick A. Johnsen, whose name should be familiar to many readers here. Johnsen has spent many decades as an aviation historian and is the author of more than 25 books on aviation history, has written and photographed for regular columns and articles published in numerous aviation publications, and served as museum curator, to name some of his accomplishments. This newest book is a labor of love and presents information and photographs he has accumulated through his long aviation career. I think this is the most complete history of the various drone programs used by the military since the early efforts in the 1920 to the modern QF-16 drones flown today that you will find. I found the material on the QB-17 drone program most interesting and there are many photos of both the DB-17 and QB-17 aircraft that I had never seen before. Excellent text and photos for anyone interested in these drone programs.