♫ Claire ♫
de Havilland DH82B Queen Bee and Remote Control Unit
The Queen Bee was developed as a low-cost radio-controlled target aircraft, for realistic anti-aircraft gunnery training. If it survived the shooting (as intended, by offset aiming), its controller would attempt to recover it for re-use!
The Queen Bee used the engine, unslatted wings, undercarriage and tailplane of a Tiger Moth. But instead of a Tiger Moth fabric-covered metal frame fuselage, it used a wooden (spruce and plywood) Moth Major fuselage as this was cheaper and offered bouyancy in the event of a ditching.
The aircraft could be flown manned, from the front seat. The enclosed rear cockpit position was equipped with RAE radio-control gear including pneumatically-operated servo units lnked to the aircraft rudder and elevator controls.
A four-bladed wooden windmill in the propellor slipstream on the fuselage port side drove an air-pump to provide compressed air for the gyro unit and servos.
This Queen Bee at the de Havilland Museum at London Colney was built by Scottish Aviation in 1944 and was acquired in incomplete form in 1986. It is being restored in its original colours and markings.
de Havilland DH82B Queen Bee and Remote Control Unit
The Queen Bee was developed as a low-cost radio-controlled target aircraft, for realistic anti-aircraft gunnery training. If it survived the shooting (as intended, by offset aiming), its controller would attempt to recover it for re-use!
The Queen Bee used the engine, unslatted wings, undercarriage and tailplane of a Tiger Moth. But instead of a Tiger Moth fabric-covered metal frame fuselage, it used a wooden (spruce and plywood) Moth Major fuselage as this was cheaper and offered bouyancy in the event of a ditching.
The aircraft could be flown manned, from the front seat. The enclosed rear cockpit position was equipped with RAE radio-control gear including pneumatically-operated servo units lnked to the aircraft rudder and elevator controls.
A four-bladed wooden windmill in the propellor slipstream on the fuselage port side drove an air-pump to provide compressed air for the gyro unit and servos.
This Queen Bee at the de Havilland Museum at London Colney was built by Scottish Aviation in 1944 and was acquired in incomplete form in 1986. It is being restored in its original colours and markings.