Interstate BDR

In 1944, the Interstate Aircraft and Engineering Corp. designed a tailless jet-powered assault drone, which was designated as BDR by the U.S Navy (in the apparently very short-lived "BD-for-Assualt Drone" category). The two engines of the BDR were located near the wing roots, but it is not clear whether they were to be turbojets or simpler pulsejets. Scale models of the design were tested in wind tunnels, but I don't know if any full-scale XBDR-1 prototypes were ever built. However, the latter seems to be not too likely, and the program was most probably dead before the end of World War II.

Images: NASA

XBDR-1 (wind-tunnel model)

Specifications

Note: Only very limited data on the planned XBDR-1 design is available.

Data for XBDR-1:

Wingspan	15.75 m (51 ft 8 in)
Weight	4900 kg (10800 lb)
Propulsion	2x air-breathing jet

Main Sources

[1] Thomas D. Reisert: "Tests of a 1/17-Scale Model of the XBDR-1 Airplane in the NACA Gust Tunnel", NACA Report WR-L-539, 1944
[2] Roy A. Grossnick: "United States Naval Aviation 1910-1995", Naval Historical Center, 1997

Back to Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 1

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Last Updated: 3 February 2003