UAV DRONES

Back around 1988-89 I joined up with a team of men and one rich guy who finance this group in designing a UAV, or UN-manned Aerial Vehicles.   GPS wasn’t available to civilians back then nor did we have any of the small electronic computerizes autopilots that are found in every day type toys these days.  Back then our computer of choice was a IBM 286 computer with 8 meg of ram operating a gyro type device for stability.  These planes had to be big just to hold the electronics of the day.  My job was the design, building and test flying of these birds.  It was some of the best time of my life being part of this project.  It didn’t last long but it was fun. The R3 models were all high wing models with front end that could be opened so a very large computer and auto pilot could be dropped in place.  The R3 models were a joy to fly.  The R4 Delta wing model started life as a smaller RC model powered by a Super Tigre .61.  It had a wingspan of around four feet if memory serves.  The Blue colored model is the small test bed.  The full scale UAV had a span and length of 12 feet by 11 feet.  It weighed in at just under 200 pounds with four gallons of fuel on board.