23. Lieutenant Doolittle argued for further development using radio control
The Army’s final report on the test and evaluation of the Kettering Bug was written by James Doolittle, eight years after testing halted. The report contained several recommendations which stressed the desirability of continuing research into unmanned flying vehicles, using radio signals to control the flight from the ground. Doolittle rose to prominence in the Army Air Service and in the public mind between the World Wars. He set several flying records, earned the first Ph.D. in Aeronautics (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) ever awarded in the United States, and rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel before leading the famous Doolittle Raid. His recommendations for the Kettering Bug were lost in the Army’s bureaucratic maze.
Charles Kettering recommended a revised version of the Bug in 1939. The Army Air Corps and General Hap Arnold expressed interest, and several test versions were built by General Motors in the days leading up to World War II. It was capable of delivering a 500-pound bomb to a target and was flown by radio control, but its range was limited to 400 miles. In 1942 General Arnold canceled the program. By then he was forced to operate bombing missions from bases in England, and the limited range of the GM flying bomb was of no service. He did note that the Germans could make use of such a device, using bases in Belgium and France to launch raids against Great Britain.