A Brief History Of Drones

An inside look at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum’s UAS collection

- Patrick Sherman

Editor’s note: In this special, two-part report from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., Patrick Sherman of the Roswell Flight Test Crew sits down with curator Roger Connor to talk about the museum’s rapidly expanding collection of modern uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) as well as the history of drones, which begins not long after the Wright brothers’ historic flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

At the dawning of a new era in aviation, defined by pilotless aircraft weighing just a few pounds, I was curious to see how the Smithsonian is adapting. To be sure, it is collecting and preserving the aircraft that make historic contributions, according to Roger Connor, who curates the museum’s drone collection. As we began our discussion, however, he turned first to the history of drones—a gentle reminder that the future always flows from the past.