Robot Television Bomber of 1940

Hi,


here is a robot television bomber launched from a master plane,designed by Dr Lee
De Forest and U.A. Sanabria.


https://books.google.com.au/books?id=19kDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA805&dq=Popular+Mechanics+robot+television+bomber&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GmkmVbDYH5fXap-AgdAH&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Popular%20Mechanics%20robot%20television%20bomber&f=false

Hi,

In 1938, Dr. Lee De Forest and U.A. Sanabria in the Americas proposed a robot bomber that would seek its target by means of a 'mechanical eye'. It concerned an application of the TV camera, a device that was still fully in its development phase at the time. They argued that with such a device, which would cost about $10,000, it would be possible to improve the accuracy of bombing raids. By equipping the robot bomb with a radio and TV transmitter, it would be possible to guide the flying bomb from miles away by radio control to the target from an aircraft that would be equipped with radio and TV control equipment. The camera, mounted on the front of the robot bomber, would constantly transmit images from the ground so that the control aircraft could perfectly direct the robot bomb to the target. The robot would be launched from the ground. Once airborne, the control aircraft would take over control. The robot could be loaded with one or more bombs or one full explosive charge. The bombs would then be dropped over one or more targets or the aircraft would crash on the target with an explosive charge. The control would be done via super high-frequency signals. From the control plane, the operator could control the following functions of the robot via various buttons: elevators, ailerons and rudders, the mirror of the TV camera, the TV transmitter and the release of the bombs or the crash of the aircraft. The technology that would be used had already been fully tested, so that few problems could be expected. It was possible to control several bombers from one control aircraft.