This week in Edwards flight test history

  • Published
  • 412th Test Wing Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  

On Nov. 15, 1941, the U.S. Army's first test of a General Motors A-1 "flying bomb" took place.  The unmanned monoplane, to be guided by either a preset flight program or radio control, reached a speed of 97 mph on its rail launch track but settled to the ground and crashed soon after takeoff.  The 200 horsepower  aircraft, developed by Charles F. Kettering, was a larger version of the biplane "Bug" tested during World War I.