Used as a ground instructional airframe, later registered N74TA. The QU-22B was intended as an unmanned airborne relay for the 'Igloo White' operation during the Southeast Asia War. This placed and monitored sensors to detect traffic along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. In 1970 a detachment of the 553rd Recon Wing known as the "Vampires" conducted the first operational QU-22B mission, all flights then carrying a pilot due to unreliability problems with the equipment. In 1972, after the loss of several aircraft, the USAF cancelled the QU-22 program

The QU-22B 'Pave Eagle' was an unmanned airborne relay for the Igloo White operation during the Southeast Asia War. Igloo White placed and monitored sensors to detect traffic along the main enemy supply line, the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Modified from the civilian Beech 36 Bonanza under the Pave Eagle II program, the 27 QU-22Bs delivered to the USAF were intended as airborne relays for the Igloo White operation during the Southeast Asia War, monitoring ground sensors to detect traffic along the main enemy supply line, the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Remote control equipment allowed the QU-22B to be flown directly by an onboard pilot or as an unmanned drone. In practice flights were all manned and after the loss of several aircraft, in 1972 the program ended. Registered N90637 to a tech college in 1974, this one joined the USAFM in 2001

Photographer: Peter Mancus

Photographer: Thomas Brewer

Photographer: Thomas Brewer

The QU-22B was to be an unmanned airborne relay for the Igloo White operation during the Southeast Asia War. Igloo White placed and monitored sensors to detect traffic along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Due to equipment reliability problems all operational flights carried a pilot and the system worked well but, due to the loss of several aircraft, the QU-22 program was cancelled in 1972 and this aircraft went on display at the National Museum of the USAF in 2002.