Tourist center gets unmanned aircraft for display

The newest addition to the Havelock Tourist and Event Center's aviation display is its first plane without room for a pilot.

"A big model airplane is basically what it is," said Jim Stuart, aircraft curator for the tourist center. "It's an unmanned vehicle, a very large model airplane. It operates on radio frequencies."

A RQ-2B Pioneer unmanned plane will be on display at the tourist center beginning May 10. Last flown in 2005 during Operation Iraqi Freedom, the aircraft is on loan from the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Fla.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 2, or VMU-2, based at Cherry Point, operated the Pioneers. Forty-seven of the drones were built for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, and just six others are on museum display.

"I like for things to be unique, and there are only seven of these in the world restored for display," Stuart said. "I'm really tickled for Havelock that we have one. It's amazing."

The drones are used for reconnaissance, intelligence collecting, search and rescue and damage assessment. They can record live video, giving commanders a bird's-eye view of the situation on the ground.

The drones were usually launched from battleships and directed to fly into nets on the ships for retrieval.

The 452-pound UAV will be suspended from the ceiling of the tourist center lobby. Stuart said Marines from VMU-2 and the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing will help assemble and hang it on May 10.

The Eastern Carolina Aviation Foundation, which manages exhibits at the tourist center, requested the Pioneer because of its significance to Cherry Point, Stuart said.

"Because it's VMU-2, they're here, and what better tribute could we have than to be able to procure this airplane and display it here in Havelock?" he said. "When they come in to visit, it gives them bragging rights. They can come in and say, ‘Mom, Dad, this is it. I worked on that airplane.'"

The Pioneer drone is 16.9 feet wide and powered by a 26-horsepower engine with a top speed of 126 mph. It flies at a height of 12,000 to 15,000 feet and can travel about five hours on 47 gallons of fuel.

A crew of four Marines or sailors operated the drones, which debuted in 1986 and logged more than 20,000 flight hours before their replacement aircraft was introduced.

They were used in the Persian Gulf War in 1991, Operation Restore Hope in Somalia in 1992, in Bosnia and Kosovo in the late 1990s and in the current Iraq war, among numerous other missions.

Iraqi troops on Faylaka Island surrendered to a Pioneer drone launched from the U.S.S. Battleship Wisconsin in 1991, according to literature on the aircraft.

The Pioneer drone will be on display indefinitely during the Havelock Tourist and Event Center's regular hours of operation.