I n the shadows of World War II, when the skies thundered with propellers and hope often hung by a thread, engineers were quietly designing something almost unimaginable: | A plane meant to die so its pilot could live. It was called the Fleetwings BQ-1, and though few remember it today, it carried within its brief, troubled existence the seed of an idea that would change aviation forever — the dream of the true unmanned aircraft. A Pilot’s Ghost By 1942, the Allies h

I imagine standing in your hangar, the scent of aviation fuel in the air, gazing up at your prized possession—a P-51 Mustang, a Spitfire,...