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40-604: Reginald Denny served with the Royal Flying Corps during World War I , and after the war emigrated to the United States to seek his fortunes in Hollywood as an actor. He was successful as a supporting actor in dozens of films and made a good living. Like many actors of the era, he took up flying for sport in the 1920s. But he then lost almost all of his money speculating in oil and mining stocks. Between films, Denny overheard

80-595: A Northrop plant at Newbury Park, CA , and the name was changed to the Ventura Division, Northrop Corporation. Citations Bibliography Reginald Denny (actor) Reginald Leigh Dugmore (20 November 1891 – 16 June 1967), known professionally as Reginald Denny , was an English actor , aviator , and UAV pioneer . Born Reginald Leigh Dugmore on 20 November 1891 in Richmond , Surrey , England (part of Greater London since 1965), he came from

120-630: A design known as the Radioplane One, or RP-1, essentially a greatly enlarged model airplane, complete with a fuselage area that included the step where a windscreen was in a real aircraft. The control system was based on a telephone dial: dial 4 for elevator down, and then 2 to stop the motion. Due to the latencies in the system, the aircraft were found to be almost uncontrollable. In 1936, Denny met General W.S. Thiele at Fort MacArthur in Los Angeles, who complained that it cost $ 300 to have an aircraft tow

160-591: A great deal in common with Robert Loraine , an older actor/airman. They had been in a West End production together in 1902 in London, they were both veterans of the RFC (and its successor, the Royal Air Force) and were both flying and making films in Hollywood in the 1930s. Each of them visited their close relatives in the same area of London. At Loraine's wedding in 1921, his best man was an Air-Commodore who had been in charge of

200-472: A model plane shop, which became a chain known as the Reginald Denny Hobby Shop, now California Hobby Distributors. He designed his "Dennyplane" with its signature model engine "Dennymite" developed by engineer Walter Righter , in addition to the "Denny Jr." which child actors would enter in model plane competitions at Mines Field, which later became Los Angeles International Airport . Denny had

240-654: A new aircraft design by Fred Hardy and its associated engine from Walter Righter, who had supplied the engines for their previous designs. They began marketing them as the "Dennyplane" with the "Dennymite" engine. After continued development, they demonstrated the design to the Army in March 1939 as the RP-2, and this was far more successful. In November, they demonstrated the RP-3, which used welded steel tubing in place of glue-and-screwed balsa wood for

280-407: A partner on Hollywood Boulevard , but after two years it went out of business. Denny approached (or was approached by) Nelson Paul Whittier, grandson of California Quaker pioneer, John Greenleaf Whittier . The two formed Reginald Denny Industries in 1935 to develop a new radio controlled model, and were joined by electronics engineer Kenneth Case. For the next three years they attempted to produce

320-407: A racket next door and went to investigate. He found the neighbor's son attempting to start one of the earliest radio-control model airplanes. Denny attempted to help, but they instead ended up destroying the model. While attempting to get it fixed, Denny became acquainted with the newly forming model industry, one of whom convinced him to take it up as a hobby. In 1934 he started a small hobby shop with

360-603: A target for gunnery practice. He also noted that the target flew in a straight line, which made it unrealistic. Denny suggested that a radio controlled model might be a more cost-effective solution. In an effort to interest the US Army in the design, they had demonstrated the RP-1 at Dale Dry Lake on 21 February 1938, but the radio failed and it crashed. In spite of the crash, the Army agreed to purchase three models for $ 11,000 if they met certain performance requirements. In 1938, they purchased

400-589: A theatrical family; his father was actor and opera singer W.H. Denny . In 1899, he began his stage career in A Royal Family and starred in several London productions from age seven to twelve. He attended St. Francis Xavier College in Mayfield, Sussex, later known as Mayfield College , but, at 16, he ran away from school to train as a pugilist with Sir Harry Preston at the National Sporting Club . He also appeared in several British stage productions touring

440-469: A vice-president at Menasco Motors Company and budding entrepreneur. Collins and Denny estimated it would take somewhere between $ 50,000 and $ 75,000 to bring the RP-3 up to the performance demanded by the original $ 11,000 contract, but Collins was willing to take a chance that this would lead to future business. Collins and his partner Harold Powell split the drone program off from Reginald Denny Hobby Shops and formed Radioplane with Denny and Whittier. Whittier

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480-517: A young woman assembler named Norma Jeane Dougherty, whom he thought had potential as a model. She was photographed working on the OQ-3, which led to a screen test for Norma Jeane Dougherty, who soon changed her name to Marilyn Monroe . In November 1943, the company produced the OQ-7, essentially an OQ-3 with some cleanups and a new mid-mounted, slightly swept wing. This reached 112 miles per hour (180 km/h) but

520-458: Is a simple aircraft, powered by a two-cylinder two-cycle piston engine, providing 6 horsepower (4.5 kW) and driving two contra-rotating propellers. The RC control system was built by Bendix. Launching was by catapult only and recovered by parachute should it survive the target practice. The landing gear was used only on the OQ-2 versions as sold to the Army to cushion the landing by parachute. None of

560-541: The First World War in the new wartime Royal Air Force . In the 1920s he performed as a stunt pilot with the 13 Black Cats aerial stunt team and loaned his World War I Sopwith Snipe biplane to Howard Hughes for use in Hell's Angels (1927). In the early 1930s, Denny became interested in free-flight model airplanes. In 1934, he and oil tycoon Max Whittier 's son, Paul Whittier, formed Reginald Denny Industries and opened

600-640: The Frank Sinatra crime caper film Assault on a Queen (1966). He made frequent appearances in television during the 1950s and 1960s. His last role was in Batman (1966) as Commodore Schmidlapp. In 2020, Kino Lorber released 4K restorations on DVD and Blu-ray of three of Denny's silent comedies: The Reckless Age , Skinner's Dress Suit , and What Happened to Jones? in The Reginald Denny Collection. Denny served as an observer/gunner during

640-824: The Radioplane OQ-2 . In July 1940, they formed the Radioplane Company and manufactured nearly fifteen thousand drones for the U.S. Army during the Second World War . It was here that he employed a teenage girl by the name of Norma Jeane Mortensen (later known as Marilyn Monroe ) who is recorded as having said it was "the hardest work I ever had to do". The company was purchased by Northrop in 1952. Reginald Denny's Hobby Shop, began selling his models, in 1935, on Hollywood Boulevard. Denny married actress Irene Hilda Haismann on 28 January 1913 in Calcutta ; both were with

680-533: The US Army in 1940. Calling the new design the RP-2, he demonstrated several updated versions to the Army as the RP-2, RP-3 and RP-4 in 1939. In 1940, the Army It was at this factory on June 26, 1945, that Army photographer David Conover saw a young woman assembler named Norma Jeane Dougherty, who he thought had potential as a model. She was photographed in the plant, which led to a screen test for Norma Jeane, who soon changed her name to Marilyn Monroe . The OQ-2

720-572: The World Film Company and made films both in the United States and Britain until the 1960s. Among the numerous stage productions in which he starred, Reginald appeared in John Barrymore 's 1920 Broadway production of Richard III ; the two actors became friends and starred in several films together including Sherlock Holmes (1922) , Hamlet (1933), Romeo and Juliet (1936) , and Paramount's Bulldog Drummond series (1937–1938). Denny

760-624: The Bandmann Opera Company. They had one daughter but were divorced in 1928. Denny married actress Isabelle "Bubbles" Stiefel in 1928 and they had two children. Denny died on 16 June 1967, aged 75, after suffering a stroke whilst visiting his sister in his home town of Richmond, England . He was interred at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles , California. His three children and wife Isabelle (died 1996, aged 89) survived him. Radioplane OQ-2 The Radioplane OQ-2

800-598: The MQM-36 Shelduck, and ultimately became the company's biggest success, with just 60,000 produced in a production run that lasted into the 1980s. A modified version of the Shelduck, the RP-71 Falconer (MQM-57), added an autopilot and camera mounts for battlefield reconnaissance duties. For even higher speeds, the company began experimenting with pulsejet systems immediately after the war, building two experimental designs,

840-500: The OQ-2 with a larger 8 horsepower (6.0 kW) O-15-3 engine that allowed it to reach 103 miles per hour (166 km/h). It also used a single propeller in place of the OQ-2's counter-rotating variety, as the torque effects were no longer a concern for the operators. The OQ-3/TDD-2 was the most-produced Radioplane drone of the war era, with over 9,400 produced. It was on the RP-5 assembly line in 1945 that Army photographer David Conover saw

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880-612: The OQ-2A, which led to the US Navy buying a slightly modified version as the TDD-1 , for Target Drone, Denny, 1 . Navy models lacked the landing gear, which was useless on water. The OQ-2B had a lightened structure by drilling holes in the wing ribs. By 1943, there was a demand for a faster version, which led to the December introduction of the OQ-3, or TDD-2. This was essentially a strengthened version of

920-419: The RFC radio control weapons and developed the first powered drone aircraft. Denny became interested in radio controlled aircraft and started the first US military drone work at the start of WWII. In 1935, Denny began developing his remote controlled "radioplane" for military use. In 1939, he and his partners won the first military United States Army Air Corps contract for their radio-controlled target drone,

960-597: The RP-14 which reached 168 miles per hour (270 km/h). A 60 horsepower (45 kW) O-60 four-cylinder engine from McCulloch Motors Corporation provided speeds of 195 miles per hour (314 km/h) on two experimental RP-15's (OQ-6A) in November 1944. Combining this engine with a totally new metal-skinned fuselage and wings produced the RP-19, which reached 140 miles per hour (230 km/h). About 5,200 OQ-14/TDD-3's were produced. Adding

1000-625: The RP-21 and RP-26. In response to a call for high-speed target drones from the newly formed US Air Force , in 1950 the company introduced the Radioplane Q-1 , powered by a small pulsejet . An attempt to build a version with the Continental YJ69 turbojet failed to find orders, and the role was taken over by the Ryan Firebee Q-2. Only a few dozen Q-1's were produced in total. The jet-powered Q-1

1040-615: The RP-5, and to the Army as the Radioplane OQ-2 . Delivery of these began in June 1941. Orders began to pour in, and the company expanded into the former Timm Aircraft factories on the northeast corner of the Van Nuys Airport in 1942, when Timm moved to the western side. May 1942 brought the updated RP-5A, differing primarily in the 6.3 horsepower (4.7 kW) Righter O-15-1 engine driving in-line propellers instead of side by side, along with tail-dragger landing gear. The Army purchased this as

1080-418: The aerodynamics, the new design featured side-by-side contra-rotating propellers to counteract engine torque from its Sidewinder engine, and tricycle landing gear. The RP-4 also used a new joystick -based control system that operators found easier to use. Three examples were delivered to the Army, who placed an order for an additional 53 units. The production models were further modified, known to Radioplane as

1120-498: The drones including the improved variants shipped to the Navy had landing gear. The subsequent variants delivered to the Army did not have landing gear. The OQ-2 led to a series of similar but improved variants, with the OQ-3 / TDD-2 and OQ-14 / TDD-3 produced in quantity. A number of other target drones were built by Radioplane (including licensed contractors) and competing companies during

1160-575: The framework, and added the new feature of a parachute that could be activated when the flight was completed, making landings a simple push-button task. Continued testing was carried out at March Field , east of Los Angeles . These early tests were not very successful, but a series of improvements were quickly worked into the design. At this point the Whittier estate withdrew further funding. Denny and Whittier sought bankers to provide bridge financing , and one of these put them in touch with Whitney Collins,

1200-553: The more powerful O-45-35 engine produced the OQ-17/TDD-4, but only small numbers were produced. By the end of the war the company's factory floor had expanded from 979 square feet in 1940 to 69,500 spread over five buildings, and was delivering 50 drones a day. The company, along with production partner Frankfort, ultimately produced nearly fifteen thousand drones during the Second World War . Righter's engine plant remained in Burbank , and

1240-593: The music halls of England of The Merry Widow . In 1911, he went to the United States to appear in Henry B. Harris 's stage production of The Quaker Girl , then joined the Bandmann Opera Company as a baritone touring India and the Far East India where he performed for Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV . Although he worked in "flickers" during 1911 and 1912, Reginald officially began his film career in 1915 with

Radioplane Company - Misplaced Pages Continue

1280-527: The war the company began development of an entirely new drone design known as the Basic Training Target , or BTT. Unlike the previous models which retained some semblance of their original model-airplane origins, the BTT series were metal skinned and much more streamlined. The first examples mounted a 72 horsepower (54 kW) McCullough O-100-1 engine and was able to reach 220 miles per hour (350 km/h) and

1320-487: The war, most of which never got beyond prototype stage, which accounts for the gaps in the designation sequence between "OQ-3" and "OQ-14". After World War II ended, various experiment were made with Radioplane target drones. In one experiment in 1950, a derivative of the QQ-3 Radioplane drone was used to lay military communication wire. During the war Radioplane manufactured nearly fifteen thousand drones. The company

1360-470: Was a well-known actor in silent films, and with the advent of talkies he became a character actor. He played the lead role in a number of his earlier films, generally as a comedic Englishman in such works as Private Lives (1931) and later had reasonably steady work as a supporting actor in dozens of films, including The Little Minister (1934) with Katharine Hepburn , Anna Karenina (1935) with Greta Garbo , Alfred Hitchcock 's Rebecca (1940) and

1400-616: Was designed so that at 700 feet (210 m) range it appeared and flew like a jet fighter flying at 700 miles per hour (1,100 km/h) at 300 yards (270 m) range. It entered service in 1950 with some examples used as late as the 1980s. A further improvement was the OQ-19/KD2R-5, with a 95 horsepower (71 kW) McCullough that raised speed to 230 miles per hour (370 km/h). These included wing-tip mounts for teardrop-shaped radar reflectors that allowed them to be used with various radar-guided guns and missiles. These entered service as

1440-507: Was eventually purchased by Radioplane in May 1945. Shortly after the end of the war the company produced a report sponsored by the Office of Naval Research with proposals for small aircraft capable of carrying a single marine over irradiated territory in an amphibious assault. As the post-war wind-down began to take effect, Denny eventually sold his 25% stake in the company to Collins in 1948. Late in

1480-409: Was later bought out. Another year of development was required before the new RP-4 design was complete, having been extensively re-designed by aeronautical engineer Ferris Smith. Testing was accomplished by mounting the models to a framework on the front of a Packard Twelve Senior and driving across Muroc Dry Lake at speeds up to 120 miles per hour (190 km/h). Along with significant changes to

1520-605: Was not taken into production. A totally new design was introduced in April 1944, the RP-8. This was powered by a new 22 horsepower (16 kW) O-45-1, allowing it to reach 141 miles per hour (227 km/h). This was taken into service as the OQ-14 and TDD-3, and a larger O-45-35 engine was used by the Navy's TDD-4. The RP-10 tested a new low-mounted wing on an otherwise unmodified OQ-7. A new four-cylinder 22 horsepower (16 kW) Righter O-45 powered

1560-559: Was the first mass-produced UAV or drone in the United States , manufactured by the Radioplane Company . A follow-on version, the OQ-3, became the most widely used target drone in US service, with over 9,400 being built during World War II . The OQ-2 was originally a radio controlled aircraft model designed by Walter Righter. The design, along with its engine design, was purchased by actor Reginald Denny , who had demonstrated another model to

1600-602: Was then used in the development of the GAM-67 Crossbow , an experimental long-range anti-radiation missile . In 1953 they began development of the RP-61, a supersonic jet-powered drone that was powered by a XJ81 engine and able to reach Mach 1.55. Several improved models followed, but only 25 were produced. The company was purchased by Northrop in 1952, becoming the Radioplane Division of Northrop. The factory later moved to

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