PM, August 18, 1946
Inside Washington:
‘Drone’ Flight Bid for Fund’s

“The maiden ocean-crossing from Hawaii of two “drone” Flying Fortresses was the opening salvo of the Army Air Forces’ publicity campaign destined to make the American public “guided missile” conscious.
The Air Forces, which visualize a complete revolution of air warfare in the very near future, will need a real boost from the American taxpayers if Congress is to be persuaded to raise Air Force appropriations during peacetime. The cost of developing missiles and jet propulsion will be large.
A The War Dept. points out that in conflict pilotless planes loaded with bombs have twice the range of ordinary aircraft, as their mission need not be round trip. So far the “mother” ships have had to fly with the “drones,” but the Air Forces say that successful experiments show that it will soon be possible to fly the “drones” as far as radio waves will travel.”

(The more things change, the more they stay the same…)