· The first pilot-less drone was developed for the U.S. Navy in 1916 and 1917 by two inventors, Elmer Sperry and Peter Hewitt, who originally designed it as an unmanned aerial bomb.
· Measuring just 18.5 feet across, with a 12-horsepower motor, the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Aircraft weighed 175 pounds and was stabilized and directed with gyroscopes and a barometer to determine altitude.
· In the end, the targeting technique was too imprecise for it to be useful against ships during the war.
· Measuring just 18.5 feet across, with a 12-horsepower motor, the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Aircraft weighed 175 pounds and was stabilized and directed with gyroscopes and a barometer to determine altitude.
· In the end, the targeting technique was too imprecise for it to be useful against ships during the war.