Lieutenant Kennedy’s Last Words

 

Within the next few years, it is estimated that there will be about 7000 drones flying in U.S. airspace. Many of these will be military, but eventually many more of them will serve a variety of commercial and research purposes. Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com, plans to use drones to hasten delivery direct to your door. Not sure how they are going to ring your doorbell, but I’m sure that will get solved.

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Things go bump in the night, as they say, and to a pilotless drone in which there is no one who can look out the window, it is always night. The “big sky” theory, which states that things are unlikely to bump into each other because of just how much space there is out there, has never been very accurate. Whether the solution lies in designated “drone airways” or any other number of regulatory schemes, more stuff out there increases the danger in the sky and, when they crash, on the ground as well.

But the danger in drones doesn’t lie solely in their dropping munitions or even bumping into things. Just about everyone in the vicinity of my age knows that JFK’s older brother, Joseph Kennedy, Jr., died as a war hero. But many people are unaware that he died as a result of a drone accident. He wasn’t the target of the drone, but rather the launcher. In the Second World War, the US Navy used radio controlled PB4Y airplanes as unmanned flying bombs (they were called “robots” then). A pilot would take off from the ground, set the course, and then bail out. A shadow aircraft would then guide it to its exact destination using the radio in the shadow airplane. Joe Jr. died when the experimental PB4Y he was flying exploded before he was able even to don his parachute. In an operation code-named “Aphrodite,” he and his co-pilot left an airfield in England heading for France, with the intention of destroying the Fortress of Mimoyecques. They successfully were able to transfer control of their airplane to the shadow airplane, and arm the explosives. Kennedy keyed the microphone and spoke the words “spade flush,” the code indicating that he had successfully armed the explosives. Those were his last words, as the explosives detonated prematurely and his airplane was blown to bits.

Ed Renehan, Jr., in his book “The Kennedys at War,” reprinted the contents of the secret telegram sent from General Spaatz to General Doolittle in August 2004 (Note that “PD” is “period” and “CMA” is “comma”):

ATTEMPTED FIRST APHRODITE ATTACK TWELVE AUGUST WITH ROBOT TAKING OFF FROM FERSFIELD AT ONE EIGHT ZERO FIVE HOURS PDROBOT EXPLODED IN THE AIR AT APPROXIMATELY TWO THOUSAND FEET EIGHT MILES SOUTHEAST OF HALESWORTH AT ONE EIGHT TWO ZERO HOURS PD WILFORD J. WILLY CMA SR GRADE LIEUTENANT AND JOSEPH P. KENNEDY SR GRADE LIEUTENANT CMA BOTH USNR CMA WERE KILLED PD COMMANDER SMITH CMA IN COMMAND OF THIS UNIT CMA IS MAKING FULL REPORT TO US NAVAL OPERATIONS PD A MORE DETAILED REPORT WILL BE FORWARDED TO YOU WHEN INTERROGATION IS COMPLETED

The U.S. Air Force publicly has acknowledged that its three principal drones have been involved in over 120 “mishaps,” undoubtedly military-speak for “unfortunate deaths.” That statistic leaves out drones operated by the other military branches and the CIA. The FAA is currently working on developing a regulatory scheme that will attempt to effectively keep drones from bumping into each other as well as commercial flights with people aboard. But concerns such as lost radio contact, or malfunctions that leave drones unable to be guided to safety, are much more difficult to address. Soon, I suspect, when you see something flying above, you best be prepared to duck.