NAMU KDN Gorgon

The KDN Gorgon, first designated TD2N, was an early jet-powered target drone developed by the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics and built by the Naval Aircraft Modification Unit for the United States Navy. It grew out of the Gorgon IIIB missile, which was cancelled over engine trouble, and was simplified into a drone from November 1944. Built mostly of wood with fabric-covered fuselage parts to save strategic materials, it had a monoplane wing and twin tails, a Westinghouse J32 turbojet under the airframe, preset navigation plus radio command guidance, and parachute recovery. Drop tests began in June 1945, it was redesignated KDN-1 in 1946, and the program ended that March because of the engine. One example survives in storage at the National Air and Space Museum.