{
  "id": 19571268,
  "title": "Today I learned the world's first mass-produced drone was built by a Hollywood actor",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/11/today-i-learned-the-worlds-first-mass-produced-drone-was-built-by-a",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-11T23:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TechRadar",
    "slug": "techradar",
    "url": "https://www.techradar.com/pro/today-i-learned-the-worlds-first-mass-produced-drone-was-built-by-a-hollywood-actor"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In 1935, Reginald Denny, a British-born silent film actor, opened a hobby shop on Hollywood Boulevard where he sold model aircraft. This led to his development of the first mass-produced drone, the Radioplane OQ-2, in 1936. The OQ-2, designed as a radio-controlled target drone, was intended to provide realistic combat training for the US Army while reducing the risk to pilots operating tow planes with giant fabric tubes. After World War II, the Radioplane Company produced a total of 14,891 OQ-2 and OQ-3 drones, including a custom version for the US Navy, known as the TDD-1. Denny, who had also starred in over 200 films, was part of a stunt pilot group called Thirteen Black Cats and trained for the Royal Flying Corps in World War I.",
  "summary": "British-born actor Reginald Denny turned model aircraft into the Radioplane OQ-2, a target drone the US Army ordered in huge numbers during World War II.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}