60 acast.com Drone! https://www.dronepod.net/ en David Axe war, Vietnam, drones David Axe The first robot war Drones played an important and unheralded role in the U.S. air war over Vietnam and surrounding countries in the 1960s and ‘70s. Model 147 Lightning Bugs, based on the Q-2 target drone, spotted targets for manned bombers, jammed enemy radars and scattered propaganda leaflets. In 11 years of combat starting in 1964, USAF planes in Southeast Asia launched more than a thousand Lightning Bugs on more than 3,000 sorties.


The Vietnam drone war was waged by a misfit crew of contractors and airmen led by some of the era’s most ingenious engineers and managers. And for much of the conflict, they answered to one person. Bob Schwanhausser. The secretive chief of a secret war … with their own secrets to keep. Drone! is an audio adaptation of Drone War: Vietnam, a nonfiction book about the world’s first robot war. By David Axe, a filmmaker and reporter for Forbes.

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]]> Drones played an important and unheralded role in the U.S. air war over Vietnam and surrounding countries in the 1960s and ‘70s. Model 147 Lightning Bugs, based on the Q-2 target drone, spotted targets for manned bombers, jammed enemy radars and scattered propaganda leaflets. In 11 years of combat starting in 1964, USAF planes in Southeast Asia launched more than a thousand Lightning Bugs on more than 3,000 sorties.


The Vietnam drone war was waged by a misfit crew of contractors and airmen led by some of the era’s most ingenious engineers and managers. And for much of the conflict, they answered to one person. Bob Schwanhausser. The secretive chief of a secret war … with their own secrets to keep. Drone! is an audio adaptation of Drone War: Vietnam, a nonfiction book about the world’s first robot war. By David Axe, a filmmaker and reporter for Forbes.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/drone.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> false David Axe info+610c7dff1104a4001707bb6c@mg-eu.acast.com 610c7dff1104a4001707bb6c drone serial https://assets.pippa.io/shows/undefined/1628208488358-01a486d95a93f17374b5fe7eed46b45a.jpeg https://www.dronepod.net/ Drone! Part Three Part Three Fri, 20 Aug 2021 00:47:53 GMT 11:06 611ef7916760b10012a01201 false https://shows.acast.com/drone/episodes/part-three 611ef7916760b10012a01201 610c7dff1104a4001707bb6c part-three Drone-watching from prison full 1 3 Being expendable, Model 147 drones help extend U.S. air power over even the most dangerous corners of North Vietnam. 

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/drone.

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]]> Being expendable, Model 147 drones help extend U.S. air power over even the most dangerous corners of North Vietnam. 

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/drone.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Part Two Part Two Sun, 15 Aug 2021 02:26:32 GMT 14:40 61187b5913bb0e00155b8c14 false https://shows.acast.com/drone/episodes/part-two 61187b5913bb0e00155b8c14 610c7dff1104a4001707bb6c part-two Drones as rice-paddy lawn-darts full 1 2 Bob Schwanhausser and his crew battle the weather, unreliable hardware, a labyrinthine bureaucracy -- oh, and communist troops -- as they struggle to make new drone technology work in some of the most brutal conditions on Earth.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/drone.

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]]> Bob Schwanhausser and his crew battle the weather, unreliable hardware, a labyrinthine bureaucracy -- oh, and communist troops -- as they struggle to make new drone technology work in some of the most brutal conditions on Earth.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/drone.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Part One Part One Fri, 06 Aug 2021 00:20:35 GMT 14:40 610c7fbd96a6bf001299cc3b false https://shows.acast.com/drone/episodes/part-one 610c7fbd96a6bf001299cc3b 610c7dff1104a4001707bb6c part-one full 1 1 Model 147 Lightning Bugs start out as targets for military training exercises in the 1950s. But the shoot-downs of manned U-2 spy planes over the Soviet Union and Cuba compel the Pentagon to modify the targets into front-line warplanes. It's easier said than done.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/drone.

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]]> Model 147 Lightning Bugs start out as targets for military training exercises in the 1950s. But the shoot-downs of manned U-2 spy planes over the Soviet Union and Cuba compel the Pentagon to modify the targets into front-line warplanes. It's easier said than done.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/drone.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]>