Interwar British Experiments with Pilotless Aircraft

Abstract

This article assesses British attempts at the production of a viable pilotless aircraft in the 1920s and early 1930s, a scheme initiated by Lord Trenchard as chief of the air staff. There were effectively two ways in which an unmanned plane could be made: either mechanically, by gyroscopic controls, or by radio guidance. Since the second method had scarcely been technically developed at the time, the main emphasis in this account falls on the mechanical model, Larynx. The manufacture and testing of Larynx, both in Britain and in Iraq, are described here, and the reasons for the termination of the experiments in 1936 are discussed. By then piloted bombers were held to be a better option.