McDonnell Aircraft Katydid Drone

McDonnell Katydid Drone

From The Handbook of Rockets and Guided Missiles, 195?:

KADYDID [sic] Officially known as the KDD-1. A U. S. tar-
get drone by McDonnell developed about 1942. Launched
by a catapult or from the air. It had a resonance duct
or ramjet engine of 40 min. duration. Gyro stabilized
and radio controlled. Engines are mounted on top of
the body and are 7.5 ft. long and 7 in. in diameter.
There are two fins at the rear mounted in a V.

Length 11.2 ft.
Span 12.2 ft.
Speed 200 mph

Lying west of the main impact site of the YB-49, and overlapping it to some extent, lies an interesting bit of history: A McDonnell Aircraft Company Katydid drone, circa 1945.

The main crash site has been tampered with, both by plinkers and by someone who gathered the Katydid wreckage and possibly that from another McDonnell aircraft (with a 10- part number prefix). Large pieces of plexiglas can also be found, and are undoubtably from an aircraft other than the Katydid.

Tom Rosquin approaching the pile of wreckage.

The site as we found it.

Another general view.

The propulsion unit itself. This may actually have been a pulsejet.

We're not yet sure what this is. It does not appear to be from the Katydid. Possibly a control surface from another aircraft.

Another view of the unknown artifact.

An almost completely intact Katydid wing. It appears that the entire wing was movable.

Detail of Katydid markings.

The crumpled Katydid nose section.

Reverse of the nose section.

This perforated piece had something to do with fueling (as it is marked as such) and can be easily seen in the picture at the top of this page. The attached bracket or rail was probably used to launch this particular Katydid by catapult.

Skin fragment and antenna as seen in the picture at the top of this page.

Quite possibly the Katydid's navigation gyro.

Unknown artifact.

The official Boeing stance on the subject.

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