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"I started writing in the 1930's when I was eighteen years old. And deep inside me I'm still eighteen and it's still 1938."
- Isaac Asimov
 |
| Automatic Air Mail Plane | ||
| A pilotless airplane for delivery of cargo. |
The same device that was used in automatic automobiles was placed in airplanes. However, the evil machinations of rival companies caused these new devices to go crazy.
| Then the automatic airmail planes changed from peaceful carrier pigeons to predatory hawks. They chased other planes, deliberately colliding with them. They plunged to distraction against mountainsides and skyscrapers. |
| Technovelgy from The Living Machine,
by David H. Keller. Published by Wonder Stories in 1935 Additional resources -
|
I can't find an earlier reference to the idea of an autonomous airplane (note that this is different from the idea of an automatic pilot).
As one of the characters remarks "It was a dangerous thing to do. A machine is alright and a brain is alright, but God never intended the two to be hitched together."
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