History of UAVs

•“UAVs are to be understood as uninhabited and reusable motorized aerial vehicles.” states van Blyenburgh, 1999. These vehicles are remotely controlled, semi-autonomous, autonomous, or have a combination of these capabilities.

•Comparing UAV to manned aircraft, it is obvious that the main difference between the two systems is that on the UAV no pilot is physically present in the aircraft. In many cases, the crew (operator, backup-pilot etc.) responsible for a UAV is larger than that of a conventional aircraft (Everaerts, 2008). 

•The concept of pilotless aircraft dates back to the mid-1800s, when Austrians sent off unmanned, bomb-filled balloons as a way to attack Venice, Italy. The drone seen today started innovation in the early 1900s and was originally used for target practice to train military personnel (Robert Kanyike, 2007). 

•The earliest attempt at a powered unmanned aerial vehicle was A. M. Low's "Aerial Target" of 1916. A number of remote-controlled airplane advances followed during and after World War I (Dempsey M. E., 2011).  

•The first aerial photographs were taken by Gaspard Tournachon in 1858 from a manned balloon in Paris (Newhall, 1969). Over the years, the experiments and evolution of manned balloons were coupled with model balloons. In parallel to the balloons, other systems like kites (Lawrence and Myers, 1906), Pigeons (Neubronner, 1903) and Rockets (Alfred Maul, 1904) were used for spying during the world wars in the last century ( Newhall, 1969). In 1970 Whittlesey reported on the use of a tethered balloon for archaeological documentations, which he started in 1967 (Whittlesley, 1970). 

Pictures of Early UAVs:

Photos Credit: Newhall, 1969 and Whittlesley, 1970.