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QU-22B #
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Photo:
Robert Deering 10/18/2012 National Museum of the USAF Wright-Patterson AFB (FFO) Dayton, Ohio |
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The QU-22B was to
be an unmanned airborne relay for the Igloo
White operation during the Southeast Asia
War. Igloo White placed and monitored
sensors to detect traffic along the main
enemy supply line, the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Modified from the civilian Beech Model 36 Bonanza under the Pave Eagle II program, the 27 QU-22Bs delivered to the U.S. Air Force contained several changes for military service. The QU-22B carried a large generator above the engine to power its electronic equipment and additional fuel in extended wing tip tanks for increased range. Its remote control equipment allowed the QU-22B to be flown directly by an onboard pilot or as an unmanned drone. In 1970 a detachment of the 553rd Reconnaissance Wing (later the 554th Reconnaissance Squadron) known as the "Vampires," conducted the first operational QU-22B flights. During a typical mission, the QU-22B orbited near the Ho Chi Minh Trail, picking up signals from Igloo White acoustic and vibration sensing ground units and relaying them to the Information Surveillance Center (or "Task Force Alpha") at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base. Although the QU-22B performed well as a signal relay, all operational flights in Southeast Asia carried a pilot onboard due to equipment reliability problems. In 1972, after the loss of several aircraft, the USAF cancelled the QU-22 program. The museum's QU-22B went on display in 2002. |
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