Original 1/2 Scale Sparrow Model Aircraft Tendered as Representation of  Uncrewed Aviation Design Circa 1973

The Academy of Model Aeronautics has received a new piece of history to add to the collection, bringing in the Sparrow, a 1/2 scale demonstrator of a would-be drone aircraft from the early seventies. 

The new piece was delivered by Jim Dalton and Doug Erhardt, Dalton being a long time steward of the model. The Sparrow was designed by Raymond Fredette of the Flight Dynamics Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base under Project Teleplane, a preliminary effort to assess and design remotely piloted vehicles for military purposes. Fredette's design represented the groundwork of a concept that pondered whether remotely piloted vehicles would become an integral part of air operations, or even replace crewed aircraft. 

In period media, a number of publications found the design interesting, with author and project participant Dave Scully describing the Sparrow RPV as "more than an interesting project designed for carrying movie cameras. It's a multi-purpose research or practical application industrial tool for carrying substantial payloads in a pusher configuration." Prescient words, describing what in many ways could be said to describe most of America's frontline UAV designs. 

The Sparrow model was built in 1/2 scale, still fairly large compared to the majority of model aircraft, but perfectly sized to develop engineering and production methods for a new design. The design is a twin-tail, high-wing, single-engine, tricycle gear aircraft with a pusher configuration engine nestled between its tails. Interestingly, others have availed themselves of the robust design in the modeling community, making their own copies of the Sparrow. One such model, built by Luther Hux, was added to the Museum's collection in 1983. Now, that copy can be joined by its progenitor, representing an earlier phase of uncrewed American aviation.

The Association has collected a few period articles regarding the development of project Teleplane at their website, including the original Model Aviation piece on Project Snapshot from 1979.

FMI: www.modelaircraft.org