208 Rockets vs. a Runaway Drone (the Drone Won) - The Battle of Palmdale

The so-called 1956 Battle of Palmdale was not a proud moment for the United States military. After a Grumman F6F-5K Hellcat drone went rogue, two F-89 Scorpion jets started a calamitous pursuit to destroy it. These state-of-the-art interceptors were armed with 208 rockets and carried cutting edge military targeting technology. Yet, even though their foe couldn’t fight back, the pilots of the jets couldn’t take the drone down. The Hellcat flew away from them without a scratch.

In their attempt to destroy the drone, they did, however, leave a path of destruction through Palmdale, California. By sheer luck, no lives were lost during the incident, but it took 500 firefighters to deal with the aftermath of the chase...