Newsday
Fax Gives Glimpse of Crash Investigation
By W. Michael Pitcher

       Official documents faxed mistakenly to a Riverhead resident recently
show that the Federal Bureau of Investigation two months ago was
investigating whether pieces of debris found among the wreckage of TWA
Fight 800 were the remnants of an aerial target drone used by the U.S.
Navy and other armed services training exercises. The FBI apparently
has since determined that the wreckage was not from the aerial target.

       The information came to light after a fax meant for the FBI's facility
in Calverton was sent to Riverhead resident Dede Muma, who forwarded a
copy of the fax to this newspaper.

       The Calverton FBI facility was established to investigate the July 17,
1996 crash of the Boeing 747 off Moriches Inlet that killed all 230
people on board.

       The fax was meant to be sent from an employee at Teledyne Ryan
Aeronautical to his superior, who was on assignment at the Calverton
FBI facility. The fax shows a diagram of what appears to be a missile,
along with a breakdown of its tail section and a parts list. The fax was
sent by Teledyne employee Erich Hittinger to Walt Hamilton of Teledyne,
via FBI agent Ken Maxwell. Teledyne is based in San Diego and, among
other things, manufactures armaments.

       The object shown in the fax was identified this week by Jane's
Information Services in Alexandria, Virginia as a Teledyne Ryan BQM-34
Firebee I, an air or surface-launched recoverable aerial target. The
Firebee has a wing span of 13 feet, and is approximately 23 feet long.
It can travel at speeds up to 635 knots with a maximum range of just
under 700 miles.

       The targets are used all over the world, including within the military
"warning areas" that come as close as about 10 nautical miles off
Moriches Inlet in the Atlantic Ocean. The Navy practices shooting down
drones within the warning areas.

       Theories that a missile downed TWA Flight 800 began immediately after
the crash when many witnesses reported seeing a streak of light arcing
up toward the plane before it exploded. One theory, popular on the
Internet, is that U.S. Navy forces were conducting exercises south of
Long Island the night of the crash and sent one or more targets--like
the Firebee--aloft. The theory proposes that a missile fired at that
target from either a plane or submarine instead locked on to the TWA 747
and brought  plan down.

       The FBI has publicly dismissed Mr. Salinger's theory, but says it
continues to investigate all possibilities and has not singled out any
cause--missile, bomb or mechanical failure--as the cause of the crash.

       FBI spokesman Joseph Valiquette refused to comment on the recent
Teledyne Fax and any other aspect of the agency's investigation when
contacted on Wednesday.

       Former press secretary to President John F. Kennedy Pierre Salanger
created an uproar this year when he announced that he had proof Flight
800 was downed by an errant missile that came from inside one of the
warning areas.

       Mr. Hittinger said this week that the FBI had contacted Teledyne Ryan
because FBI investigators suspected that orange pieces of debris found
among the TWA Flight 800 wreckage might be parts of a Firebee. The
Firebee is "95 percent" international orange in color, he said.

       Mr. Hittinger said Mr. Hamilton flew to the Calverton FBI facility and
examined the debris. Mr. Hittinger sent the fax to Mr. Hamilton to aid
him in his examination of the debris.

       "He (Mr. Hamilton) said it wasn't from our Firebee," said Mr. Hittinger
. "It was all put to bed some time ago." Mr. Hamilton was on vacation
until July 28 and was unavailable for comment.

       Ms. Muma received the fax from the FBI on May 13. She received another
fax meant for the FBI's Calverton office July 10. That fax was
apparently a background check on a potential federal appointee.

       The problem is a simple matter of numbers--Ms. Muma's fax number is 369
-4310 and the FBI's fax number is 369-4301.

       Ms. Muma said she called the FBI when she received the first fax. She
said the agency's initial reaction was "Oh, s---."

       After the initial shock wore off, Ms. Muma was told to "send it along
to them, and destroy the original." She said she asked what would happen
if she didn't do so, and was told "we'll have o investigate you."

       Unfazed by the threat of investigation, "I told them its D-E-E M-U-M-A
, Roanoke Avenue, Riverhead, the farm with the buffalo," said Ms. Muma.
She is married to Riverhead farmer and real estate entrepreneur Ed
Tuccio, who has about 15 buffalo at his Roanoke Avenue farm.

       Ms. Muma was surprised to receive the missile information over her fax,
but she said she just figured the FBI was covering all the bases in its
investigation of the TWA Flight 800 crash. She said it was probably just
"due diligence" in checking out every possibility that prompted the FBI
to get the information from Teledyne-Ryan.

       When the second fax arrived, Ms. Muma called the FBI again. This time,
she said, the reaction was a pained groan. The error on the first fax
was made by someone at Teledyne-Ryan, but the error on the second was
made by the FBI--the second fax was sent from Special Agent (S.A.) Matt
Womble to SA Paul Raimondi.

       The second fax is designated "confidential" and is apparently a
background check on a potential appointee. The "appointee" is never
named, but he is reputed to have an unimpeachable reputation and be well
qualified "for a position of trust and confidence with the U.S.
government."

       Among other things, the memo says that the appointee "can maintain
confidences and secrets and exert appropriate discretion."

       "Unlike the FBI," opined Ms. Muma.
       The opinions on the unnamed appointee came from one Walter Lewis of
Dillon Reid and Company on Madison Avenue in New York City, an
investment banking firm. Mr. Lewis's secretary said he would have no
comment on the matter.

       Before sending the second fax to the FBI's real fax number, Ms. Muma
scribbled "From your branch office in Riverhead" across the top of it.

       Ms. Muma said she felt free to talk about the misdirected fax because
"its not a matter of national security." If it was, she said, "I'd die
with that."

       Ms. Muma waits expectantly for her next fax message from the FBI. "I've
started the J. Edgar Hover Memorial Library," Ms. Muma joked.

C 1997 Southampton Press Publishing Co., Inc.

Date on the Firebee

"In the mid-1960s, capitalizing on the proven design of their subsonic Firebee 1 remotely piloted vehicle (RPV), Ryan developed a supersonic version with which the Navy and Air Force could train and test new weapon systems. The Air Force ordered 99 BQM-34Fs and, by February 1974, had started using them. The BQM-34F was rocket-boosted from a short rail ground launcher or dropped from a DC-130 or -E aircraft modified to carry up to four RPVs. They were normally recovered with the Mid-Air Retrieval System (MARS), which included a specially equipped helicopter that "snatched" the target while it descended under its 80 ft. diameter parachute. If the BQM-34 landed in water, it could float for several hours until it was recovered. The BQM-34F carried an assortment of electronic devices to enhance its radar image, permit flying as low as 50 feet, control it from up to 200 miles away, "score" the missiles fired at it, and telemeter information to and from it during flight. The Firebee on display, 69-3374 was retired from active service with the 6514th Test Squadron, Hill AFB, Utah, in August 1978. SPECIFICATIONS... Span: 9 ft. 8 in.... Length: 29 ft. 2 in.... Height: 5 ft. 7 in.... Weight: 2,460 lbs. maximum ...Armament: None ...Engine: Continental YJ69-406 turbojet with 1,920 lbs. thrust ...PERFORMANCE ...Maximum speed: Mach 1.5 dash (for 4 minutes at 60,000 feet) ...Endurance: 73 minutes" ...(source: United States Air Force Museum)


Were firebee drones ever used as Stinger targets?

As a matter of fact there is youtube footage of this very thing from 1975!!

Attached File

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Attached File




Movie was donated by Ryan to San Diego museum in 1990’s

Title
F 1748 0001 Stinger Missile Development March 20, 1975 Firebee Target
Contributing Institution
San Diego Air and Space Museum Library and Archives
Collection
Moving Image Collection
Rights Information
Please contact the contributing institution for more information regarding the copyright status of this object.
Description
Film donated by the Ryan Aeronautical Company to the San Diego Air and Space Museum in the 1990s. From the archives of the San Diego Air and Space Museum http://www.sandiegoairandspace.org/research/ Please do not use for commercial purposes without permission.
Type
moving image
Subject
San Diego Air and Space Museum
Ryan Aeronautical
San Diego
FIM-92 Stinger

TELEDYNE RYAN AERONAUTICAL
ACHIEVER

Vol. 5, No. 5
San Diego, California
May 1988



New Order For 80 Firebees Expected



Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical pro-
duction of BQM-34S Firebee aerial
target systems is expected to con-
tinue well into the 1990s, based
on the expected award of a new
order for 80 of the jet-powered
targets that could come as soon
as late June.

TRA Director of Firebee Target
Operations Walt Hamilton said
that the newest contractual docu-
ment was being prepared at the
Air Force Logistics Center, Robins,
AFB, Ga.

The new order is expected to
call for seven deliveries monthly
starting in early 1990. Already de-
livered is an initial increment of
87 BQM-34S Firebees since the
resumption of production in 1985.
Forty-six more from a follow-on
order for 80 units had been deliv-
ered by May, Hamilton reported.

When completed, the total num-
ber of Firebees now on order —
plus the expected requirement-
will total 327 units.

Hamilton said that deliveries will
also begin early next year on an
order for 50 BQM-34A Air Force
Firebees with a follow-on order for
20 more expected. The Air Force
versions will be powered by J-85
jet turbine engines, boosting their
thrust by significant margins.

Also being introduced in the
BQM-34A versions will be Micro-
processor Flight Control Systems
newly developed by TRA.

"These enhancements add ma-
jor new performance qualities
to the Firebee's operational en-
velope. Overall, we can expect
lowered maintenance and pre-
flight system checkout times, and
increased cost-efficiencies due
to the product improvements,"
Hamilton explained.

The new production orders is-
sued by the Navy and Air Force
for TRA's subsonic Firebees re-
inforces the company's reputa-
tion within its customer audiences
for product reliability and perfor-
mance qualities matched to re-
quirements, he said.

Hamilton noted that the Firebee,
introduced in the early 1950s as a
growth concept, has experienced
five generations of advance, each
keeping pace with technology de-
velopments in weapon systems.
"The new Navy order assures
us of continued production into the
decade ahead," Hamilton said.



Pusher-prop powered, the twin-
tailed aircraft has been configured
for manned flight in initial phases
of operations.

Program Manager Doug Fronius
said the flight test program is
designed to explore the aircraft's
design qualities and verify its per-
formance capabilities. In its initial
flight, the aircraft was flown to alti-
tudes of 8,500 feet in incremental
stages where various engine and
control evaluations were achieved.

Constructed primarily of com-
posite materials, the aircraft has
a 31-foot wingspan in its current
configuration. A cockpit and flight
controls for manned operations
occupies the equipment bay that,
during unmanned flight, will in-
clude sophisticated sensor systems
and reconnaissance and other
monitoring equipment.

The Model 410 is transported
to operating sites in its own van
that also houses a command and
control center Tests of the air-
craft under remote control are
not planned in the manned flight
test portions of the program, Froni-
ous said.

The BQM-34A was the premier aerial target system throughout the 1960s. It measures nearly 23 feet long with a 13-foot wingspan and was powered by a single 1,700 lbf Continental J69-T-29A engine. It was capable of topping 700 MPH (that's mach .97), flying as low as 10 feet above the water and as high as 60,000 feet for over an hour on a single tank. 7G turns while evading simulated fire were no problem thanks to an advanced microprocessor flight control system.

And instead of an Invader, the BQM-34A launched instead from the under-wing pylon of a DC-130 Hercules drone controller aircraft, which could carry and command up to four drones. From the ground the Firebee employed a Aerojet General X102F solid-fueled rocket booster. The BQM-34A also came equipped with scoring and countermeasure systems, radar enhancements to help mimic the signatures of larger aircraft, and thermal flares on its wingtips so that heat-seekers would lock-on and destroy the wing, not the engine. After the drone was blown out of the sky it would deploy a parachute and wait to be plucked from the air by a specially equipped catcher helicopter or float on the ocean's surface until a recovery crew arrived to collect it.
 There were still plenty of BQM-34A drones not converted to reconnaissance duty, mind you. In the early 1980s, many 34As were updated with more powerful 1,900 lbf J69-T-41A engines and improved avionics. The Navy cancelled production of the BQM-34A between 1982 and 1986, however brought the platform back as the BQM-34S target drone. And, since then, both the Navy and Army (which purchased its own versions of the BQM-34A throughout the 1960s and '70s as practice targets for its new-fangled Stinger missiles) have been updating them with better engines, avionics, GPS, and chaff-dispensing capabilities (which were put to use in the 2003 Iraq invasion when the Firebees laid anti-SAM chaff corridors for following, piloted planes).

More than 7,000 Firebees have been built since the start of the program and many are still serving militaries around the world—including the US, Canada, Japan, and other NATO member nations—more than fifty years after their invention.