Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 0 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Hub AI
Operation Aphrodite AI simulator
(@Operation Aphrodite_simulator)
Hub AI
Operation Aphrodite AI simulator
(@Operation Aphrodite_simulator)
Operation Aphrodite
Aphrodite was the Second World War code name of a United States Army Air Forces operation to use worn out Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated PB4Y bombers as radio controlled flying bombs against bunkers and other hardened or reinforced enemy facilities.
A parallel project by the United States Navy was codenamed Anvil. The missions were not generally successful, and the intended targets in Europe were either overrun by the ground advance of Allied troops or disabled by conventional attacks by aircraft.
The plan called for B-17E/Fs that had been taken out of operational service (various nicknames existed, such as "robot", "baby", "drone" or "weary Willy") to be loaded to capacity with explosives, and flown by radio control into bomb-resistant fortifications such as German U-boat pens and V-weapon sites.
The German offensive against London with the V-1 flying bomb, a jet-powered autopilot weapon, began in June 1944. This increased interest in the use of aircraft loaded with explosives and directed onto targets by remote control which was already under consideration,
By late 1943, General Henry H. Arnold, General commanding the USAAF, had directed Brigadier General Grandison Gardner's electronic engineers at Eglin Field, Florida, to outfit war-weary bombers with automatic pilots so that they could be remotely controlled.
The plan was first proposed to Major General Jimmy Doolittle, commander in chief of the US Eighth Air Force sometime in 1944. Doolittle approved the plan for Operation Aphrodite on 26 June and assigned the 3rd Bombardment Division with preparing and flying the drone aircraft, which was to be designated BQ-7. The USAAF also planned to outfit war-weary B-24 Liberators with explosives and automatic pilots to be used against defended targets in Japan, under the designation BQ-8.
USSTAF officially ordered Project Aphrodite on 23 June, and the 8th Air Force was directed to conduct the "development and operational trials." There was no specific equipment in the UK, so the Azon bomb control system was adapted for use. There was an experimental Azon unit at RAF Horsham St Faiths (458th Bombardment Group with Consolidated B-24 Liberators) that supplied control aircraft, crews, and technical expertise.
The final assignment of responsibility was given to the 562nd Bomb Squadron at RAF Honington in Suffolk, England. Similarly, on 6 July 1944, the U.S. Navy Special Attack Unit (SAU-1) was formed under ComAirLant, with Commander James A. Smith, Officer in Charge, for transfer without delay to Commander Fleet Air Wing 7 in Europe to attack German V-1 and V-2 sites with PB4Y-1s converted to assault drones.
Operation Aphrodite
Aphrodite was the Second World War code name of a United States Army Air Forces operation to use worn out Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated PB4Y bombers as radio controlled flying bombs against bunkers and other hardened or reinforced enemy facilities.
A parallel project by the United States Navy was codenamed Anvil. The missions were not generally successful, and the intended targets in Europe were either overrun by the ground advance of Allied troops or disabled by conventional attacks by aircraft.
The plan called for B-17E/Fs that had been taken out of operational service (various nicknames existed, such as "robot", "baby", "drone" or "weary Willy") to be loaded to capacity with explosives, and flown by radio control into bomb-resistant fortifications such as German U-boat pens and V-weapon sites.
The German offensive against London with the V-1 flying bomb, a jet-powered autopilot weapon, began in June 1944. This increased interest in the use of aircraft loaded with explosives and directed onto targets by remote control which was already under consideration,
By late 1943, General Henry H. Arnold, General commanding the USAAF, had directed Brigadier General Grandison Gardner's electronic engineers at Eglin Field, Florida, to outfit war-weary bombers with automatic pilots so that they could be remotely controlled.
The plan was first proposed to Major General Jimmy Doolittle, commander in chief of the US Eighth Air Force sometime in 1944. Doolittle approved the plan for Operation Aphrodite on 26 June and assigned the 3rd Bombardment Division with preparing and flying the drone aircraft, which was to be designated BQ-7. The USAAF also planned to outfit war-weary B-24 Liberators with explosives and automatic pilots to be used against defended targets in Japan, under the designation BQ-8.
USSTAF officially ordered Project Aphrodite on 23 June, and the 8th Air Force was directed to conduct the "development and operational trials." There was no specific equipment in the UK, so the Azon bomb control system was adapted for use. There was an experimental Azon unit at RAF Horsham St Faiths (458th Bombardment Group with Consolidated B-24 Liberators) that supplied control aircraft, crews, and technical expertise.
The final assignment of responsibility was given to the 562nd Bomb Squadron at RAF Honington in Suffolk, England. Similarly, on 6 July 1944, the U.S. Navy Special Attack Unit (SAU-1) was formed under ComAirLant, with Commander James A. Smith, Officer in Charge, for transfer without delay to Commander Fleet Air Wing 7 in Europe to attack German V-1 and V-2 sites with PB4Y-1s converted to assault drones.