What was that fighter plane that landed itself in 1917?

Question

There's this ripley's believe it or not article that says a fighter plane landed itself after the pilot and gunner were shot dead, and I think it ran out of fuel and landed in its descent. This happened in 1917. I find this really hard to believe especially because it was a biplane. Can anyone find this online or know what plane it was or who piloted it? The ripley's thing didn't give too much info.

Answer 1

I couldn't locate the specific incident you describe

but there are more than a few examples of

of dron/ target aircraft that lost radio contact

and had to be shot down by a range control aircraft.

It typically goes something like this-

The pilot has the drone in his sights, shoots

his full load of .50 cal ammo. The drone emits

a puff of smoke and glides gently down to the ground

where it crashes with minimal damage. No bullet holes are found, much to the chagrin of the pilot who was supposed to have easily shot down a non maneuvering airplane.

I think the drone was a modified F6F or SNJ.

The incident took place in the '50's.

I've read at least two stories like that in the Tailhook magazine.

Most aircraft are designed to maintain level flight-

hands off when it's all trimmed out. As airspeed

decreases and it slowly loses altitude, it can land in

a fairly benign manner if all the conditions are just right.

Check out the U-2 story in the first link.

Answer 2

i think your meen the U.S.M.C harrier

Answer 3

I am unfamiliar with the incident to which you refer, BUT.....

I am not a bit surprised.  Especially in 1917, airplanes were smaller and slower.  Built-in stability created by dihedral in the wings and downward forces on the tail should have kept it fairly level in flight.  Then when the fuel was exhausted, the nose would drop, but not so much since the fuel tanks were empty.  It probably bounced on landing since there was no pilot to compensate for entering ground effect, but certainly not surprising that it happened.  Fighters today must even have power to land.  They depend upon thrust to fly and when it goes away, they come down very fast.