Operation Aphrodite
Whereas Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. lost his life testing remote controlled planes loaded with explosive payloads TO BE USED AS GUIDED MISSILES IN
1944.
After previous US Army Operation Aphrodite missions, Kennedy and Lt. Wilford J. Willy were the crew in a modified version of the PBY4-1 (code name Anvil) in the US Navy's first Aphrodite mission. After the two Lockheed Ventura mother planes and a navigation plane had taken off, the BQ8 "robot" aircraft completed take-off loaded with 21,170 pounds (9600 kg) of Torpex to use as a guided missile on the Mimoyecques V-Weapon site.[2] Following approximately 300 feet behind the drone was Colonel Elliott Roosevelt in a de Havilland Mosquito to film the mission. Kennedy and Willy remained on board while the BQ8 completed its first remote-control turn. Approximately two minutes later and ten minutes before the planned crew bail out, the Torpex detonated and destroyed the drone - the plane came down near to the village of Blythburgh in Suffolk.