Aviation History and Unmanned Flight

Abstract

Although there are many who believe that UAVs are a recent invention going back at most two or three decades, unmanned flight has a rich history that goes back all the way to ancient times. Of course, the first systems that can qualify with the modern definition of UAVs are quite recent and mainly involve the reconnaissance drones developed and deployed during the cold war. Today, UAV systems have evolved and expanded into widely different designs like quadrotors, ducted fan, and blimps in addition to the classic fixed-wing and helicopter approaches. They have also acquired new roles beyond reconnaissance and have also found applications beyond the military domain, for example, in weather monitoring or infrastructure inspection. This chapter provides a short overview of this history.