Ryan AQM-34L (AQM-34K) Firebee "Tom Cat"
In 1948, the USAF requested Ryan Aircraft to develop a jet-powered target drone aircraft, as it was anticipated that propeller-driven drones would be too difficult to intercept for fast jet fighters then coming into service. Ryan responded with the Q-2 Firebee, which could be launched from modified A-26 Invader drone controllers, or from the ground.
While the Q-2 was adequate, the rapid progression of aviation in the 1950s rendered it obsolete. Ryan then developed an advanced version, the Q-2C, which was larger, used swept wings, and used an uprated engine with a different style intake. This subsequently became the BQM-34 after 1962.
Most Firebees were (and remain) used as targets for weapons training, and could be configured with flares or radar reflectors to simulate different types of aircraft. If the drone was not destroyed, the controller could then cut off the engine and deploy a parachute, after which a helicopter would recover it for future use. Drone controllers either flew the Firebee from a ground station, or more often, converted DC-130 Hercules aircraft. BQM-34 drones are still in service.
Besides their use as targets, the BQM-34 series was also converted to reconnaissance duties prior to the Vietnam War. Under various codenames (Firefly, Lightning Bug, and Buffalo Hunter), a dizzying amount of Firebee variants for these purposes were built and used. Some were equipped with cameras, others with infrared detectors and signals intelligence (SIGINT) equipment. The advantage of Firebees were that, if they were shot down or crashed, there would be no loss of a pilot. Between 1968 and 1970, when American aircraft were officially banned from flying over North VIetnam, BQM-34s were used instead. Several were shot down, though North Vietnamese MiG fighters found them elusive targets; rumors persist that one MiG-17 crashed while in pursuit of a Firebee, and the controller claimed it as an aerial victory. Firebees were also used over China and North Korea, and as late as 2003 over Iraq, where they were used as decoys for Iraqi surface-to-air missiles.
Losses of Douglas EB-66 Destroyer standoff jamming aircraft over North Vietnam led to the USAF to consider modifying drones to act as ECM aircraft. Not only would this no longer risk the lives of aircrew, the drones could precede the strike force to the target area. The USAF began Project Combat Angle in 1966, modifying AQM-34G Firebees to carry ECM suites and chaff dispensers as AQM-34Vs. As ECM pods that could be carried on strike aircraft improved, Combat Angle did not receive much attention, and the first AQM-34V was not tested until after the Vietnam War was over, in 1976. Though the AQM-34V was never used in combat, similarly modified BQM-34-53s were used in the Second Gulf War in 2003.
Though it is painted as an AQM-34L, this is actually a K model Firebee. It depicts "Tom Cat," an AQM-34L Compass Bin used over North Vietnam in the late 1960s; "Tom Cat" was one of the more successful Firebees, flying 68 missions over North Vietnam (most of them in the lethal Pak Six area) before its luck ran out in 1974, when it was shot down by flak near Hanoi. "Tom Cat" was assigned to the 556th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron at Bien Hoa, South Vietnam, where it dropped AQM-34s from DC-130 motherships.
Though many Vietnam-theater Firebees were either camouflaged or painted black, "Tom Cat" wore ADC Gray, which made it harder to see against the clouds. This AQM-34K was repainted and donated to the SAC Museum at Ashland, Nebraska by the 100th SRW. It is slightly inaccurate: the real "Tom Cat" had a different sharkmouth, didn't carry a tail number, and didn't carry a SAC stripe on the rear fuselage. It currently hangs by the entrance area at the museum, between the SR-71 and the museum's restoration facility.
Ryan AQM-34L (AQM-34K) Firebee "Tom Cat"
In 1948, the USAF requested Ryan Aircraft to develop a jet-powered target drone aircraft, as it was anticipated that propeller-driven drones would be too difficult to intercept for fast jet fighters then coming into service. Ryan responded with the Q-2 Firebee, which could be launched from modified A-26 Invader drone controllers, or from the ground.
While the Q-2 was adequate, the rapid progression of aviation in the 1950s rendered it obsolete. Ryan then developed an advanced version, the Q-2C, which was larger, used swept wings, and used an uprated engine with a different style intake. This subsequently became the BQM-34 after 1962.
Most Firebees were (and remain) used as targets for weapons training, and could be configured with flares or radar reflectors to simulate different types of aircraft. If the drone was not destroyed, the controller could then cut off the engine and deploy a parachute, after which a helicopter would recover it for future use. Drone controllers either flew the Firebee from a ground station, or more often, converted DC-130 Hercules aircraft. BQM-34 drones are still in service.
Besides their use as targets, the BQM-34 series was also converted to reconnaissance duties prior to the Vietnam War. Under various codenames (Firefly, Lightning Bug, and Buffalo Hunter), a dizzying amount of Firebee variants for these purposes were built and used. Some were equipped with cameras, others with infrared detectors and signals intelligence (SIGINT) equipment. The advantage of Firebees were that, if they were shot down or crashed, there would be no loss of a pilot. Between 1968 and 1970, when American aircraft were officially banned from flying over North VIetnam, BQM-34s were used instead. Several were shot down, though North Vietnamese MiG fighters found them elusive targets; rumors persist that one MiG-17 crashed while in pursuit of a Firebee, and the controller claimed it as an aerial victory. Firebees were also used over China and North Korea, and as late as 2003 over Iraq, where they were used as decoys for Iraqi surface-to-air missiles.
Losses of Douglas EB-66 Destroyer standoff jamming aircraft over North Vietnam led to the USAF to consider modifying drones to act as ECM aircraft. Not only would this no longer risk the lives of aircrew, the drones could precede the strike force to the target area. The USAF began Project Combat Angle in 1966, modifying AQM-34G Firebees to carry ECM suites and chaff dispensers as AQM-34Vs. As ECM pods that could be carried on strike aircraft improved, Combat Angle did not receive much attention, and the first AQM-34V was not tested until after the Vietnam War was over, in 1976. Though the AQM-34V was never used in combat, similarly modified BQM-34-53s were used in the Second Gulf War in 2003.
Though it is painted as an AQM-34L, this is actually a K model Firebee. It depicts "Tom Cat," an AQM-34L Compass Bin used over North Vietnam in the late 1960s; "Tom Cat" was one of the more successful Firebees, flying 68 missions over North Vietnam (most of them in the lethal Pak Six area) before its luck ran out in 1974, when it was shot down by flak near Hanoi. "Tom Cat" was assigned to the 556th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron at Bien Hoa, South Vietnam, where it dropped AQM-34s from DC-130 motherships.
Though many Vietnam-theater Firebees were either camouflaged or painted black, "Tom Cat" wore ADC Gray, which made it harder to see against the clouds. This AQM-34K was repainted and donated to the SAC Museum at Ashland, Nebraska by the 100th SRW. It is slightly inaccurate: the real "Tom Cat" had a different sharkmouth, didn't carry a tail number, and didn't carry a SAC stripe on the rear fuselage. It currently hangs by the entrance area at the museum, between the SR-71 and the museum's restoration facility.