by Paul Hegarty.......... "Full with Noise,..." is about noise music, specifically the version that has come to be called Japanese Noise -- itself composed of many different strands. The first half deals with the question of noise. What is it, whose is it, and how can we think about it. Also, how does noise inflect our thinking, rather than being an object; at what point does noise lose its noiseness and become meaning, music, signification? Or -- is there even a point where noise can subsist? Mostly, the text below takes the view that noise is a function of not-noise, itself a function of not being noise. Noise is no more original than music or meaning, and yet its position is to indicate the banished, overcome primordiality, and cannot lose this 'meaning'. Noise, then, is neither the outside of language nor music, nor is it simply categorisable, at some point or other, as belonging exclusively to the world of meaning, understanding, truth and knowledge. Read More ...
Dirty HC Punk explosion - Bristol scene Rise up + Disorder 9 free CDs
From The Cortinas to Lunatic Fringe and Disorder, Bristol had a huge Punk scene that has influenced, affected and stimulated a vast range of artists that operate in the city. Many of these artists produce music that wouldn’t necessarily suggest a Punk heritage but scratch beneath the surface of a lot of the major players in the Bristol milieu and you will find a fondness for the times of `spikey barnets’, limited musical ability, a `F*** You’ attitude and disrespect for the music industry and its poseur hierarchy. Read More ...
A straight shot west out of Boston on I-90 will carry you, in two hours or less, to Western Massachusetts, where the country still looks like it did twenty or even 40 years ago: college towns, I-91 tracing the same lazy ladder from Springfield up through Holyoke and Northampton, Amherst and Deerfield. Out there it's taken for granted that the houses will be drafty, the winters uniformly long, and that, on any given trip to the local supermarket, one might spot Thurston or Lou or Kim or J, on-and-off locals for more than twenty years. {audio}http://www.archive.org/download/DinosaurJrDrawings/07Drawerings_64kb.mp3{/audio} ... Drawerings Read More ...
By way of decrying a society that left its citizens unbearably restrained, Edith Wharton describes how in New York in the 1870s, women would order dresses from their Paris dressmakers and then leave them in tissue paper at least two years before wearing them in public; the thought of showing them "in advance of the fashion" was unforgivably vulgar. Social life has changed, but cultural life seems just as restricted now – even Animal Collective are held back by trends that seem a couple of years old (and that they helped to invent). When I think back on 2009, I’ll first remember how our impoverished aesthetic generation repeatedly scraped the resin from the cultural trash barrel. Every second person is wearing neon leggings, and the ones who aren’t rock a ‘70s aesthetic, with high-waisted jeans and moccasins. Christmas sweaters are getting impossible to find at the thrift store. Ska revival. Garage rock revival. It never ends. Read More ...
Black Punk Time: Blacks in Punk, New Wave and Hardcore 1976-1984 + free albums
By James Porter and Jake Austen ....... When punk-rock arrived--as we now know it--back in 1975-77, it was the kick in the ass the music world needed. At a time when the wide-ranging rock scene incorporated everything from Midwestern Metal to Outlaw Country to funk-fusion combos like Weather Report, there was an overall, evident energy drop. When the debut albums appeared from the Ramones, the Dictators, Patti Smith, the Sex Pistols, the Dead Boys, and others, the edge was back. As Spin, VH1, Rolling Stone and the rest of the self-important "Rock History Reports" so boldly declare these days, punk was the wildest, angriest, most vital, most energetic, hottest shit going. Read More ...
For a small country New Zealand has long been pumping out some impressive music. Way back in the 1960s it was crazed long-haired punkers messed up on all sorts of stuff - musical (the Pretty Things, Love, the 13th Floor Elevators, the Troggs and who-knows-what-else) and I guess otherwise. Some of the best of these bands (at least, the ones that recorded) can be heard on Wild Things vol 1 and 2, compiled by NZ music historian John Baker, the first of which came out on Flying Nun, the second probably on Baker's own Zero Records, also the home to No. 8 Wire: Psychedelia Without Drugs. Read More ...
For just over 10 years, London's Guapo has been working in the world of avant and progressive rock. The band's past is a bit hard to track with its numerous lineup changes and guest musicians. The most recent change in roster was the resignation of Matthew Thompson, the founding member of Guapo, which occurred just before the release of 2005's Black Oni. The departure of Thompson has left Guapo with percussionist David Smith and multi-instrumentalist Daniel O'Sullivan. Though O'Sullivan is by no means a founding member of the band, but he was essential in honing the sound on Guapo's last two LPs: Five Suns and Black Oni. These two albums have been pivotal in building Guapo's following of fans, so it's hard not to credit O'Sullivan as an asset to the band.... {audio}http://www.neurotrecordings.com/artists/guapo/audio/Guapo-The%20Selenotrope.mp3 {/audio} ... The Selenotrope Read More ...
Leon Theremin /1896-1993/ - the great forefather of Rock N' Roll /big noise master/
In 1919, in the midst of the Russian Civil War, Theremin invented the musical instrument that bears his name. The theremin is an electronic device that resonates sound when its operator waves his hands near its two antennas. It was the first musical instrument designed to be played without being touched. He invented the theremin (also called the thereminvox) in 1919, when his country was in the midst of the Russian Civil War. After a lengthy tour of Europe, during which he demonstrated his invention to full audiences, Theremin found his way to the United States. He performed the theremin with the New York Philharmonic in 1928. He patented his invention in 1929 (U.S. Patent 1,661,058 ) and subsequently granted commercial production rights to RCA. In 1938 Theremin was kidnapped in the New York apartment he shared with his American wife (the black ballet dancer, Iavana Williams) by the NKVD (forerunners of the KGB). He was transported back to Russia, and accused of propagating anti-Soviet propaganda by Stalin. Read More ...
Cyberwar Hype Intended to Destroy the Open Internet
The biggest threat to the open internet is not Chinese government hackers or greedy anti-net-neutrality ISPs, it’s Michael McConnell, the former director of national intelligence. McConnell’s not dangerous because he knows anything about SQL injection hacks, but because he knows about social engineering. He’s the nice-seeming guy who’s willing and able to use fear-mongering to manipulate the federal bureaucracy for his own ends, while coming off like a straight shooter to those who are not in the know. When he was head of the country’s national intelligence, he scared President Bush with visions of e-doom, prompting the president to sign a comprehensive secret order that unleashed tens of billions of dollars into the military’s black budget so they could start making firewalls and building malware into military equipment. Read More ...
The Peyote Way Church of God - believe that the Holy Sacrament Peyote can lead an individual toward a more spiritual life
The Peyote Way Church of God is a non-sectarian, multicultural, experiential, Peyotist organization located in southeastern Arizona, in the remote Aravaipa wilderness. It is not affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Native American Church, or any other religious organizations, though we do accept people from all faiths. Church membership is open to all races. We encourage individuals to create their own rituals as they become acquainted with the great mystery. We believe that the Holy Sacrament Peyote, when taken according to our sacramental procedure and combined with a holistic lifestyle (see Word of Wisdom), can lead an individual toward a more spiritual life. Peyote is currently listed as a controlled substance and its religious use is protected by Federal law only for Native American members of the Native American Church. Read More ...
Japan’s Annual Penis Festival – Celebrates Fertility
KOMAKI, Japan — It's springtime in Japan and that means one thing. Actually, two things. Penis festivals and vagina festivals. It may sound like a sophomoric gag. But these are folk rites going back at least 1,500 years, into Japan's agricultural past. They're held to ensure a good harvest and promote baby-making. Maybe they should hold more such festivals. Japan has one of the world's lowest birthrates (1.37 children per woman), which experts blame on stagnant incomes and changing gender relations. Read More ...
Dreamachine - stroboscopic flicker device enter you to a hypnagogic state - try it right here in your browser
The dreamachine (or dream machine) is a stroboscopic flicker device that produces visual stimuli. Artist Brion Gysin and William Burroughs's "systems adviser" Ian Sommerville created the dreamachine after reading William Grey Walter's book, The Living Brain. In its original form, a dreamachine is made from a cylinder with slits cut in the sides. The cylinder is placed on a record turntable and rotated at 78 or 45 revolutions per minute. A light bulb is suspended in the center of the cylinder and the rotation speed allows the light to come out from the holes at a constant frequency of between 8 and 13 pulses per second. This frequency range corresponds to alpha waves, electrical oscillations normally present in the human brain while relaxing. Read More ...
All world secret underground bases build for space travelers
The following material comes from people who know the Dulce (underground) base exists. They are people who worked in the labs; abductees taken to the base; people who assisted in the construction; intelligence personal (NSA,CIA,FBI ... ect.) and UFO / inner-earth researchers. This information is meant for those who are seriously interested in the dulce base. for your own protection be advised to “use caution” while investigating this complex.Does a strange world exist beneath our feet? Strange legends have persisted for centuries about the mysterious cavern world and the equally strange beings who inhabit it. More UFOlogists have considered the possibility that UFOs may be emanating from subterranean bases, that UFO aliens have constructed these bases to carry out various missions involving Earth or humans. Read More ...
Black-lip Rattail ............ These sorts of rattails feed in the muddy seafloor by gliding along head down and tail up, powered by gentle undulations of a long fin under the tail. The triangular head has sensory cells underneath that help detect animals buried in the mud or sand. The common name comes from the black edges around the mouth. Read More ...
German-Japanese flight to Moon and Mars in 1945-46
The moon has allways held a significant place for humanity both as a source for romantic inspiration for poets and the like to outstanding curiosity for scientists. Allthough, it is said to be a shadowy place some say of Aliens others say of Top Secret Moon Bases that are supposed to belong to The Third Reich what do you think ? It is said that in the early nineties that Nazies landed on the moon using some sort of giant flying saucer type object. These Nazi flying Saucers were said to stand about 45 mtrs high, had 10 stories of crew quaters and had a diameter of 60 mtrs. Well here is videos and texts that links that story ........ Read More ...
Island of Ghosts: Hashima Island - Japan’s rotting metropolis
Hashima, an island located in Nagasaki Bay, is better known as Warship Island (Gunkanshima). The island was inhabited until the end of the 19th century, when it was discovered that the ground below it held tons of coal. The island soon became a center of a major mining complex owned by Mitsubishi Corporation. As the complex expanded, rock brought out of the shafts was used to artificially expand the island. Seawalls created in this expansion turned Hashima into the monstrous looking Gunkanshima; its artificial appearance makes it looks more like a battleship than an island. Read More ...
The Marijuana Conspiracy - The Real Reason Hemp is Illegal
MARIJUANA is DANGEROUS. Pot is NOT harmful to the human body or mind. Marijuana does NOT pose a threat to the general public. Marijuana is very much a danger to the oil companies, alcohol, tobacco industries and a large number of chemical corporations. Various big businesses, with plenty of dollars and influence, have suppressed the truth from the people. The truth is if marijuana was utilized for its vast array of commercial products, it would create an industrial atomic bomb! Entrepreneurs have not been educated on the product potential of pot. The super rich have conspired to spread misinformation about an extremely versatile plant that, if used properly, would ruin their companies. Read More ...
Earlier this year, women became the majority of the workforce for the first time in U.S. history. Most managers are now women too. And for every two men who get a college degree this year, three women will do the same. For years, women’s progress has been cast as a struggle for equality. But what if equality isn’t the end point? What if modern, postindustrial society is simply better suited to women? A report on the unprecedented role reversal now under way— and its vast cultural consequences Read More ...
Not so long ago experts predicted the imminent collapse of religion in modern western culture. Religion – often synonymous in these discussions with superstition, magic, and delusion – would at last give way to the autonomy of human reason and the power of the experimental method of natural investigation. But something happened on the way to religion’s funeral. People kept on believing. Recent neuroscientific and evolutionary research has suggested that either many of the hallmarks of religion are, or are byproducts of, adaptations that helped our earliest ancestors survive. Read More ...
Learn How to Pronounce the Iceland Volcano Eyjafjallajokull and remember; When He Erupted In 1821, it lasted 2 years
The last time Eyjafjallajökull erupted, it lasted 2 years stretching from 1821-1823. It also erupted in 920 and 1612. Eyjafjallajökull's eruption usually precedes an eruption for another Icelandic volcano called Katla, as it did in 1823. Katla's eruptions are usually more violent than Eyjafjallajökul's. Due to the second activity on Eyjafjallajökull volcano since April 14, there are thousands of flights have been cancelled not only in Europe but also some flights from Asia, America and other continents. More over, it was also reportedly more than ten thousands of air travelers still stranded after a plume of ash cloud spreading across thousands of miles. No need to repeat the same news in every single post, actually there’s an interesting thing from the Iceland volcano’s name Eyjafjallajokull. Pronunciation is so difficult for some of us. Even, many people still don’t know what’s the right pronunciation of Eyjafjallajokull volcano. Did you know that? Read More ...
A temple complex in Turkey that predates even the pyramids is rewriting the story of human evolution. They call it potbelly hill, after the soft, round contour of this final lookout in southeastern Turkey. To the north are forested mountains. East of the hill lies the biblical plain of Harran, and to the south is the Syrian border, visible 20 miles away, pointing toward the ancient lands of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent, the region that gave rise to human civilization. And under our feet, according to archeologist Klaus Schmidt, are the stones that mark the spot—the exact spot—where humans began that ascent. Read More ...
A speech given by Bertrand Russell, March 6, 1927, National Secular Society, South London branch, Battersea Town Hall ............ "As your chairman has told you, the subject about which I am to speak tonight is "Why I Am Not a Christian." Perhaps it would be as well, first of all, to try to make out what one means by the word "Christian." It is used these days in a very loose sense by a great many people. Some people mean no more by it than a person who attempts to live a good life. In that sense I suppose there would be Christians of all sects and creeds; but I do not think that is the proper sense of the word, if only because it would imply that all the people who are not Christians -- all the Buddhists, Confucians, Mohammedans, and so on -- are not trying to live a good life. I do not mean by a Christian any person who tries to live decently according to his lights. Read More ...
The international community has come out in force to condemn and declare war on the Somali fishermen pirates, while discreetly protecting the illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fleets from around the world that have been poaching and dumping toxic waste in Somali waters since the fall of the Somali government eighteen years ago. In 1991, when the government of Somalia collapsed, foreign interests seized the opportunity to begin looting the country’s food supply and using the country’s unguarded waters as a dumping ground for nuclear and other toxic waste. Read More ...
Hindu Nepalis celebrate the ‘great night of Shiva’ smoking hashish and marijuana
KATHMANDU: Narcotic Drugs (Control) Act forbids buying and selling of drugs in the country. The law can slap fines and an imprisonment of up to 20 years if convicted in drug related crimes. But a site at the Pashupatinath Temple area today made a mockery of the law. It was but smoke and mirrors. The holy site of Hindus smoked round-the-clock. The breeze smelled the cannabis as far away as Mitrapark and Gaushala. Some 50,000 Hindu pilgrims from Nepal and India gathered last Saturday (02/13/2010) in Kathmandu’s Pashaupatinath Temple to celebrate Mahashivaratri, the ‘great night of Shiva’. Worshippers, including teenagers, freely bought hashish and marijuana and immersed themselves in the polluted (and potentially infectious) waters of the Bagmati River. Read More ...
The World's First Commercial Brain-Computer Interface + history of BCI
A brain–computer interface (BCI), sometimes called a direct neural interface or a brain–machine interface, is a direct communication pathway between a brain and an external device. BCIs are often aimed at assisting, augmenting or repairing human cognitive or sensory-motor functions. Research on BCIs began in the 1970s at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) under a grant from the National Science Foundation, followed by a contract from DARPA. The papers published after this research also mark the first appearance of the expression brain–computer interface in scientific literature. Read More ...
The giant ALICE detector is already underway at CERN, and researchers are scrambling to add an electromagnetic calorimeter to capture jet-quenching, the newest way to look inside the quark-gluon plasma — the hot, dense state of matter that filled the earliest universe, which the Large Hadron Collider will soon recreate by slamming lead nuclei into one another. CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is known mainly as the accelerator that will soon begin searching for the Higgs particle, and other new physics, in proton collisions at unprecedented energies — up to 14 TeV (14 trillion electron volts) at the center of mass — and with unprecedented beam intensities. But the same machine will also collide massive nuclei, specifically lead ions, to energies never achieved before in the laboratory. Read More ...
The Secrets of Coral Castle and pyramids EXPLAINED by Leedskalnin's Magnetic Current theory
Coral Castle doesn't look much like a castle, but that hasn't discouraged generations of tourists from wanting to see it. That's because it was built by one man, Ed Leedskalnin, a Latvian immigrant who single-handedly and mysteriously excavated, carved, and erected over 2.2 million pounds of coral rock to build this place, even though he stood only five feet tall and weighed a mere 100 pounds. Ed was as secretive as he was misguided. He never told anyone how he carved and set into place the walls, gates, monoliths, and moon crescents that make up much of his Castle. Some of these blocks weigh as much as 30 tons. Ed often worked at night, by lantern light, so that no one could see him. He used only tools that he fashioned himself from wrecks in an auto junkyard. Read More ...
Microbial communities in fluid inclusions and long-term survival in halite + The 11th Hour - documentary
Fluid inclusions in modern and ancient buried halite from Death Valley and Saline Valley, California, USA, contain an ecosystem of “salt-loving” (halophilic) prokaryotes and eukaryotes, some of which are alive. Prokaryotes may survive inside fluid inclusions for tens of thousands of years using carbon and other metabolites supplied by the trapped microbial community, most notably the single-celled alga Dunaliella, an important primary producer in hypersaline systems. Deeper understanding of the long-term survival of prokaryotes in fluid inclusions will complement studies that further explore microbial life on Earth and elsewhere in the solar system, where materials that potentially harbor microorganisms are millions and even billions of years old. Read More ...
Vadim Chernobrov & Russian secrets experiments with time machines
A disturbing story in the March, 2005. 1 issue of Pravda suggests that the U. S. Government is working on the discovery of a mysterious point over the South Pole that may be a passageway backward in time. According to the article, some American and British scientists working in Antarctica on January 27, 1995, noticed a spinning gray fog in the sky over the pole. U. S. physicist Mariann McLein said at first they believed it to be some kind of sandstorm. But after a while they noticed that the fog did not change its form and did not move so they decided to investigate. Read More ...
Seven theories of everything that pretend to describe the fundamental nature of the universe
We still don't have a theory that describes the fundamental nature of the universe, but there are plenty of candidates.
The "theory of everything" is one of the most cherished dreams of science. If it is ever discovered, it will describe the workings of the universe at the most fundamental level and thus encompass our entire understanding of nature. It would also answer such enduring puzzles as what dark matter is, the reason time flows in only one direction and how gravity works. Small wonder that Stephen Hawking famously said that such a theory would be "the ultimate triumph of human reason – for then we should know the mind of God". But theologians needn't lose too much sleep just yet. Despite decades of effort, progress has been slow. Rather than one or two rival theories whose merits can be judged against the evidence, there is a profusion of candidates and precious few clues as to which (if any) might turn out to be correct. Read More ...
How Norbert Wiener Invents Cybernetics + his book " God and Golem, Inc.........."
Norbert Wiener invented the field of cybernetics, inspiring a generation of scientists to think of computer technology as a means to extend human capabilities. Norbert Wiener was born on November 26, 1894, and received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Harvard University at the age of 18 for a thesis on mathematical logic ( see below "The Logic of Boolean Algebra"). After working as a journalist, university teacher, engineer, and writer, Wiener he was hired by MIT in 1919, coincidentally the same year as Vannevar Bush. In 1933, Wiener won the Bôcher Prize for his brilliant work on Tauberian theorems and generalized harmonic analysis. Read More ...
The T2K Experiment - From Tokai To Kamioka - Where is the anti-matter?
From the beginning of 2010, the T2K experiment will fire a beam of muon-neutrinos from Tokai on Japan's east coast, 300km accross the country to a detector at Kamioka. It hopes to investigate the phenomenon of "neutrino oscillations" by looking for "muon neutrinos" oscillating into "electron neutrinos". A million pound detector has been built at the University of Warwick as part of a vital experiment to investigate fundamental particles - neutrinos. Read More ...
It was nearly the end of WWII. At that same time, scientist Viktor Schauberger worked on a secret project. Johannes Kepler, whose ideas Schauberger followed, had knowledge of the secret teachings of Pythagoras that had been adopted and kept secret. It was the knowledge of Implosion (in this case the utilization of the potential of the inner worlds in the outer world). Hitler knew - as did the Thule and Vril people - that the divine principle was always constructive. A technology however that is based on explosion and therefore is destructive runs against the divine principle. Thus they wanted to create a technology based on Implosion. Read More ...
The Size Of Our World or How Insignificant the Earth Really Is in the Universe
Compared to you and me, the Earth is really big. But compared to Jupiter and the Sun, the Earth is pretty tiny. There are many ways we can measure the size of the Earth. Let's look at how big the Earth is, and then compare it to other objects in the Solar System. The diameter of the Earth is 12,742 km. In other words, if you dug a hole down into the Earth, passed through the center of the Earth, and came out the other side, you would have dug a hole 12,742 km deep (on average). That's about 4 times longer than the diameter of the Moon. Read More ...
Strange Images from Space - Photos&videos of the Bizarre in Our Universe
Some weird and unusual objects are floating around in the cosmos. Space is always serving up something new, unusual, and unexpected. Here are images and explanations of obejcts that have amazed and delighted astronomers. Read More ...
Project Icarus is a 21st century theoretical study of a mission to another star. Icarus aims to build on the work of the celebrated Daedalus project. Between the period 1973-1978 members of the BIS undertook a theoretical study of a flyby mission to Barnard's star 5.9 light years away. This was Project Daedalus and remains one of the most complete studies of an interstellar probe to date. The 54,000 ton two-stage vehicle was powered by inertial confinement fusion using electron beams to compress the D/He3 fusion capsules to ignition. It would obtain an eventual cruise velocity of 36,000km/s or 12% of light speed from over 700kN of thrust, burning at a specific impulse of 1 million seconds, reaching its destination in approximately 50 years. Read More ...
Mysterious Radio Waves from Unknown Object in M82 Galaxy
There is something strange is lurking in the galactic neighborhood. An unknown object in galaxy M82 12 million light-years away has started sending out radio waves, and the emission does not look like anything seen anywhere in the universe before except perhaps by Ford Prefect. M82 is starburst galaxy five times as bright as the Milky Way and one hundred times as bright as our galaxy's center. "We don't know what it is," says co-discoverer Tom Muxlow of Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics near Macclesfield, UK. But its apparent sideways velocity is four times the speed of light. This "superluminal" motion occurs usually in high-speed jets of material bursting out by black holes. Read More ...
Unsettled Mechanism of Supernova Detonation Gets a New Twist
Type Ia supernovae, often used to calibrate cosmological measurements, may arise from merging white dwarfs, after all
When stellar cataclysms known as type Ia supernovae flare up far across the universe, their brightness and consistency allow astronomers to use them as so-called standard candles to measure cosmological distances. Just over a decade ago, two teams used the supernovae to show that the universe is accelerating in its expansion due to the influence of dark energy, a shocking discovery that thrust type Ia supernovae into the astrophysical limelight. But how exactly did these cosmic mileposts come to be? Read More ...
Astronomers had found evidence of something that occurred before the (conventional) Big Bang
Our cosmos was "bruised" in collisions with other universes. Now astronomers have found the first evidence of these impacts in the cosmic microwave background. There's something exciting afoot in the world of cosmology. Last month, Roger Penrose at the University of Oxford and Vahe Gurzadyan at Yerevan State University in Armenia announced that they had found patterns of concentric circles in the cosmic microwave background, the echo of the Big Bang. Read More ...
Secret Robotic Space Plane Launched By US Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) has launched a secret space plane into orbit, carried in the nose of an Atlas 5 rocket. The USAF is not calling the X-37B a weapon or anything else, and the classified mission was broadcast live, but only for several minutes into the flight. The plane, built by Boeing, was originally part of a NASA programme but was later abandoned and turned over to a secretive USAF unit. There are no details on how much it costs or when it is coming back to earth, but when it does return the unmanned craft will land itself, using the onboard autopilot. Read More ...
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Homescience The evolution of drones and the way they've changed how war works - from 1917.
The evolution of drones and the way they've changed how war works - from 1917.
We think of drones as a modern invention, but they've been part of warfare for longer than you think. Here's a look at the evolution of drones and the way they've changed how war works. ---------------------------------------
1917: Sperry Aerial Torpedo ----
tests were the first guided missile program in this country. In 1916, Lawrence Sperry, developer of the autopilot, formed a new company and set up flying operations at an isolated site at Amityville on the Great South Bay. Here, the Navy funded the development of unmanned flying bombs intended to be launched against military targets. Five "Aerial Torpedoes" were then built by the nearby Curtiss Company. A special track and dolly was developed and Aerial Torpedoes were launched by this system with some success. The Aerial Torpedoes were to be loaded with TNT and launched against enemy targets. After a pre-set time the engine would stop and the plane would dive into the target. With the end of World War One however, all experiments with flying bombs came to a halt. Nonetheless the first successful Aerial Torpedo flight in March 1918, marked the first time a full-size automatically-controlled unmanned aircraft had actually flown. This aircraft was thus a direct ancestor of the modern cruise missile.
1917: Kettering Aerial Torpedo
Made of wood and canvas for $400 each, the "Kettering Bug" was a small biplane equipped to carry a bomb load equal to its own weight—300 pounds. Charles F. Kettering of General Motors designed the Bug to take off from a wheeled trolley and then detach its wings, allowing its fuselage to dive vertically towards a pre-programmed target. The U.S. military ordered large quantities of the Bug during the last months of World War I, but when the war ended the orders were cancelled. Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site The Kettering Bug was an aerial torpedo, the forerunner of what today is considered a UAV or a cruise missile. It was capable of striking ground targets up to 75 miles (120 km) from its launch point.
The prototype Bug was completed and delivered to the Aviation Section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1918, near the end of World War I. The first flight on October 2, 1918 was a failure: the plane climbed too steeply after takeoff, stalled and crashed. Subsequent flights were successful, and the aircraft was demonstrated to Army personnel at Dayton.
"The Kettering Bug had 2 successes on 6 attempts at Dayton, 1 of 4 at Amityville, and 4 of 14 at Carlstrom." Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site Despite some successes during initial testing, the war ended before the Bug could enter combat. By that time, about 45 Bugs had been produced. The aircraft and its technology remained a secret until World War II.
During the 1920s, what was now the U.S. Army Air Service continued to experiment with the aircraft until funding was withdrawn.
A full-size reproduction of a Bug is on permanent display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.
From April 1917 to March 1920 the US Government spent about $275,000 on the Kettering Bug.
1935: DH.82B Queen Bee
The Queen Bee, the first returnable and reusable UAV, was designed for use as an aerial target during training missions. Anti-aircraft gunners in the Royal Navy practiced shooting them down at first sight. The spruce-and-plywood biplanes first flew in 1935 and bore wheels (for launch from an airfield) or floats (for use at sea). The Queen Bee was radio-controlled and could fly as high as 17,000 feet and travel a maximum distance of 300 miles at over 100 mph. A total of 380 Queen Bees served as target drones in the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy until they were retired in 1947.
1944: V-1 Revenge Weapon 1
At the outset of World War II, Adolf Hitler commissioned a flying bomb with a chilling mandate: It would be used against "non-military targets." Fieseler Flugzeuhau designed the Fieseler Fi-103, better known as the Vergeltungswaffe (Revenge weapon)-1, or V-1, to launch via a long catapult-like ramp and fly at 470 mph. The V-1 UAV was powered by a thrust pulsejet, which produced a signature buzzing sound. It could carry a 2,000-pound warhead and was pre-programmed to fly 150 miles before it dropped its bomb. First launched against Britain in 1944, V-1s killed more than 900 civilians and injured more than 35,000 in British cities. Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site The Fieseler Fi 103, better known as V-1 (German: Vergeltungswaffe 1) was an early cruise missile used during World War Two. The V-1 was developed at Peenemünde by the German Luftwaffe during the Second World War. Between June 1944 and 29 March 1945, it was fired at population centers such as London and Antwerp. V-1s were launched from "ski" launch sites along the French (Pas-de-Calais) and Dutch coasts until the sites were overrun by Allied forces. The underground V-1 storage depots at Saint-Leu-d'Esserent, Nucourt and Rilly-la-Montagne, as well as the launch sites, were bombed during Operation Crossbow.
The earliest experimental versions of the V-1 were air-launched. Most operational V-1s were launched from static sites on land, but from July 1944 to January 1945 the Luftwaffe launched approximately 1,176 from modified Heinkel He 111 H-22s flying with the Luftwaffe's 3rd Bomber Wing or Kampfgeschwader 3 (the so-named "Blitz Wing") flying over the North Sea. Research after the war estimated a 40% failure rate of air-launched V-1s, and the He-111s used in this role were extremely vulnerable to night fighter attack, as the launch lit up the area around the aircraft for several seconds. Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site
Late in the war several air-launched piloted V-1s, known as Reichenbergs, were built, but never used in combat. There were plans, not carried into practice, to use the Arado Ar 234 jet bomber to launch V-1s either by towing them aloft or by launching them from a "piggy back" position atop the aircraft. Almost 30,000 V-1s were made. Approximately 10,000 were fired at England; 2,419 reached London, killing about 6,184 people and injuring 17,981. The greatest density of hits were received by Croydon, on the SE fringe of London. Antwerp (Belgium) was hit by 2,448 V-1s from October 1944 to March 1945. 1944 informational film about the V-1 missile. In German without subtitles Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site
1955: Ryan Firebee
In 1960, the U.S. Air Force began its first stealth aircraft program and undertook to modify combat UAVs for reconnaissance missions. Engineers reduced the radar signature of a jet-powered Q-2C Firebee by fitting a specially designed screen over the engine's air intake, placing radar-absorbing blankets on the fuselage sides, and covering the aircraft with a newly developed anti-radar paint. The resulting AQM-34 Ryan Firebee was air-launched and controlled from a DC-130 director aircraft. After a mission, the Firebee UAV was directed to a safe recovery area, where it deployed its parachute and was picked up by a helicopter.
Test flights proved that Firebee UAVS could provide covert surveillance. From October 1964 to April 1975, more than 1,000 AQM-34 Ryan Firebee UAVs flew in excess of 34,000 operational surveillance missions over Southeast Asia. They were deployed from Japan, South Vietnam, and Thailand, and flew daytime and nighttime surveillance, leaflet-dropping missions, and surface-to-air missile radar detection over North Vietnam and southeast China. The Firebee was extremely reliable; 83 percent of the Firebees flown during the Vietnam War returned to fly another day. Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site The Ryan Firebee was a series of target drones or unmanned aerial vehicles developed by the Ryan Aeronautical Company beginning in 1951. It was one of the first jet-propelled drones, and one of the most widely-used target drones ever built. In 1959, Ryan Aeronautical performed a study to investigate how the company's Firebee target drone could be used for long-range reconnaissance missions. Ryan engineers concluded they could increase the Firebee's range to allow it to fly south over the Soviet Union after launch from the Barents Sea, with recovery in Turkey.
The Firebee has a low radar cross section, making it hard to detect. With lengthened wings, the drone would also be able to fly at high altitude, further increasing its elusiveness. It could be launched by a Lockheed DC-130 Hercules, or RATO-boosted from a land site or ship.
The 147Ds combined the functions of reconnaissance and the original Firebee mission of aerial target. They were to be used as bait for SA-2 SAMs to obtain data on signals associated with the SA-2. The SAM was targeted by a radar codenamed Fan Song and it was simple enough to pick up its signals with a normal SIGINT aircraft. However, the SA-2 was radio-controlled to the target by a ground command link, with the missile carrying a transponder that sent back a signal to the Fan Song radar to allow tracking. Picking up these signals was hazardous, since they only came on when a missile was launched. The proximity fuze signal was the most dangerous, because it would only be detected moments before the SAM detonated. Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site A special "SAM sniffer" payload was installed on the Fire Fly to pick up these signals, with the drone relaying the data to an ERB-47 electronics warfare aircraft. An active radar enhancement device was installed to encourage the enemy to take shots at the drone. The three Model 147Ds were delivered in December 1962. The Fire Fly code name had leaked in the meantime, so the new drones were given the codename Lightning Bug.
In July 1963, the Lightning Bugs reached full operational status, though they had yet to fly an operational mission. In late December 1963, the Air Force ordered fourteen more Model 147Bs. By this time, Fidel Castro was threatening to shoot down U-2s flying over Cuba, and in May 1964 a study concluded that the Lightning Bug was the best alternative. However, after information about the proposal leaked to the press, the administration decided to back up the U-2s with the Lockheed A-12, an early version of the SR-71 Blackbird spyplane.
1963: Lockheed M-21 and D-21
With the Cold War at its height, the need for high-quality reconnaissance images was greater than ever. Yet several embarrassing aerial surveillance mishaps, including the shooting-down of Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane over Russia in 1960, convinced the CIA that work on a new UAV, invulnerable to attack, should begin immediately. The U.S. government gave Lockheed the job of developing a high-speed, ultra-stealth UAV. Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site Lockheed produced a single D-21 UAV in 1965. The Mach 4 vehicle, the fastest UAV in history, was carried on the back of a piloted Lockheed M-12 "mother" aircraft and had a range of 3,000 miles when released. D-21 operated at a height of 80,000 feet and was covered in Lockheed's signature plastic anti-radar coating, a precursor to the stealthy outer skin of today's Lockheed F-117 Stealth Fighter and B-2 Stealth Bomber. D-21 flew three failed missions before it crashed and sank on the fourth at an undisclosed location. Back at Lockheed, the remaining parts for unassembled D-21s were moved to storage. Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site LBJs official announcement of the "A-11". Although the world would not know about the A-12 until 1982, Johnson simply read "AMI" (Advanced Manned Interceptor) incorrectly, and ended up at "A-11"!! Ironic that there was a real bird that was just one number away from the "Typo". The A-12s were of course mainly flown by the CIA during the 1960s & '70s. In reality, the "A-11" was the YF-12A. nother interesting note; LBJ mentions that "Several A-11s" (There were three YF-12A Interceptors built) are "Now being tested at Edwards AFB". ot so when this aired on March 2, 1964! They were being tested at Area 51, and immedialtely following that announcement, two of the YF-12As were hurriedly flown to Edwards to "Make it look good". :-) Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site The two still pictures in this video are the ones that have been in our brains since 1964; the tarmac shot here is indeed Area 51, and nobody ever questioned when the photos were credited as to being taken at Edwards! Of course, the hills in the background are all wrong for Muroc, CA anyway. "The Boxart Den" World's largest display & collection of FULLY RESTORED rare & collectable model kit box art Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site
1986: The Pioneer RQ-2A
Israel built the Pioneer UAV in the late 1980s. After witnessing Israel's myriad successes with light UAVs, the U.S. Navy, Marines, and Army immediately acquired more than 20 of the new Pioneers, which became the first small, inexpensive UAVs in the modern American military forces. The rocket-boosted Pioneer takes off from a makeshift runway on land or carrier flight decks at sea. Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site Used for surveillance in the Gulf War, where they flew a total of 533 sorties, and later in Bosnia, Pioneer UAVs are still used today both in Israel and in the U.S. Pioneer has proven particularly effective in working with the U.S. Air Force's Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar Systems to confirm high-priority mobile targets detected by synthetic aperture radar (SAR) from other aircraft. (For more on SAR, see Imaging With Radar.) During the Gulf War, Iraqi soldiers actually surrendered to a Pioneer, knowing that after it spied them, gunfire was imminent. Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site
1994: MQ Predator drone
General Atomics manufactured the MQ Predator drone in 1994. This updated version allows the Predator to transition from a strictly reconnaissance role to a critical ability to transport and launch weapons at targets. Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site More than 125 Predators have been delivered to the U.S. Air Force and six are in use by the Italian Air Force. Predator UAVs have been operational in Bosnia since 1995 to aid NATO, U.N., and U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, but are gradually being phased out. Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site
2004: RQ-7B Shadow 200
The smallest of a family of drones, the RQ-7B Shadow is used today by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site The system can locate and identify targets up to 125 km away from the tactical operations center, which allows brigade commanders to see, interoperate, and act swiftly. Widely used in the Middle East, by May 2010, these drones had clocked some 500,000 hours in flight. Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site
2005: Fire Scout Firing Rocket
The Fire Scout, an unmanned helicopter known for its ability to autonomously take off and land from any aviation-capable warship and at unprepared landing zones, was created by the U.S. military in the early 2000s. Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site Here, the Fire Scout test fires 2.75-inch unguided rockets during weapons testing at Arizona's Yuma Proving Grounds.
2009: RQ-170 Sentinel
Designed and manufactured by Skunk Works, a Lockheed Martin Corporation subsidiary, the RQ-170 Sentinel is used by the U.S. Air Force. Known as the "Beast of Kandahar" and frequently flying at an altitude of 50,000ft, the RQ-170 was first deployed for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site In May 2011, the RQ-170 was deployed during the raid on the Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound where Osama bin Laden was located and killed. In December, another RQ-170 was captured by Iran and shown on Iranian television. This image displays the basic characteristics of the RQ-170: the winged design and 15,240 meter operating altitude. Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site
2010: Global Hawk
The Global Hawk, a high-flying, long-endurance UAV used by the U.S. Air Force, has an integrated sensor that provides intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. First developed in 2001, the Global Hawk has made significant benchmarks in aviation history. Known as the first UAV to fly non-stop across the Pacific Ocean, the Global Hawk was authorized to fly in U.S. airspace for the first time in July 2006. Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site Shown here, a full-scale model of the Global Hawk is displayed during a presentation in Tokyo. Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site
We think of drones as a modern invention, but they've been part of warfare for longer than you think. Here's a look at the evolution of drones and the way they've changed how war works. ---------------------------------------
