Drone returns to Holloman

  • Published
  • By Laura Hunt
  • 49th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFPN) --  Airmen from the 49th Logistics Readiness Squadron's air transportation flight returned a 1,000-pound piece of Air Force history to the base here Jan. 28.

The piece of history, a Q-2 Firebee drone, had been loaned to the New Mexico Museum of Space History from the Air Force museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, in 1999.

Retired Maj. Gen. Charles D. Metcalf, director of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, visited the museum of space history last year to survey loaned artifacts, said Mr. George House, space history museum curator. When he saw the Q-2, a model which was not on display in the Air Force museum, he requested the piece be returned to the collection.

The transportation Airmen hauled the drone back to Holloman on a flatbed truck.

There were more than 300 Q-2 missions at Holloman from 1948 to 1960, said Master Sgt. Greg Henneman, 49th Fighter Wing historian. The radio-controlled Q-2 Firebee model established a record of 25 flights here between 1958 and 1960.

The Firebee was used primarily for testing newly developed missiles and for fighter-interceptor pilot training. It was capable of being launched from an airplane or from the ground.

The drone was scheduled to be restored by space history museum specialists, but now the restoration will be done at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Mr. House said.

The drone will be stored here until an aircraft can move it to Ohio.