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  • $\begingroup$ The only pilotless aircraft I can recall from that era were barrage balloons, but those are tethered and don't actually navigate, so I doubt that's what they had in mind. I would expect they were simply anticipating the foreseeable. $\endgroup$
    – Carey Gregory
    Commented Sep 10, 2016 at 14:24
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    $\begingroup$ The V1 was from that timeframe. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_flying_bomb $\endgroup$
    – Adam
    Commented Sep 10, 2016 at 15:36
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    $\begingroup$ The US armed forces began experimenting with "drones" in the 1930s: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_unmanned_aerial_vehicles. While many hobbyists detest the use of the term "drone" to describe radio controlled aircraft the term "drone" as applied to unmanned aircraft originated with the early US Navy research in the 30s and 40s. They mostly ended up being used for target practice but at least two programs were designed to develop pilotless kamikaze aircraft (one piloted remotely by TV signal and one piloted by pigeons) $\endgroup$
    – slebetman
    Commented Sep 11, 2016 at 1:58