User:The Bushranger/Beechcraft QU-22 Pave Eagle

The Beechcraft QU-22 Pave Eagle was a Beech 36/A36 Bonanza modified during the Vietnam War to be an electronic monitoring signal relay aircraft, developed under the project name "Pave Eagle" for the United States Air Force. A reduction geared Continental IO-520 engine was used to reduce its noise signature, much like the later Lockheed YO-3. These aircraft were intended to be used as unmanned drones to monitor sensors along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos and report troop and supply movements. However when the project was put into operation in 1968, the drones were all flown by pilots of the 554th Reconnaissance Squadron.

Six YQU-22A prototypes (modifications of the Beech 33 Debonair) were combat-tested in 1968 and two were lost during operations, with a civilian test pilot killed. 27 QU-22Bs were modified, 13 in 1969 and 14 in 1970, with 6 lost in combat. Two Air Force pilots were killed in action. All of the losses were due to engine failures or effects of turbulence.

Aircraft on display
A QU-22B is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

Variants

 * YQU-22A (Model P.1079)
 * USAF military designation for a prototype intelligence-gathering drone version of the Bonanza 36, six built.


 * YAU-22A (Model PD.249)
 * Prototype low-cost close-support version using Bonanza A36 fuselage and Baron B55 wings, one built.


 * QU-22B
 * Production drone model for the USAF operation Pave Eagle, 27 built.