The Battle Of Palmdale

The Battle of Palmdale

On August 16th 1956 the US Navy was conducting tests that were part of the development of the AIM 7 Sparrow guided missile.  To test the missile, the Navy utilized a drone version of the Grumman F6F Hellcat, a remote controlled version of the famous World War II fighter plane. The plan was for the Hellcat to be downed by a guided missile over the Pacific Ocean. However, once above the ocean, the drone stopped obeying remote control commands and began flying out of control above Los Angeles.

The drone flew over LA, then began flying in a continuous tight circle over Santa Paula. To deal with the situation, the US Air Force scrambled two F-89D Scorpions of the 437th Squadron to shoot the drone down.  Armed with unguided rockets, the fighters intercepted the drone but had little luck bringing it down. The two fighters fired a total of 208 rockets, none of which struck the drone.  Eventually the drone ran out of fuel and plummeted to the ground, taking out a set of electric lines as it returned to earth.

As for the 208 rockets launched, as a safety precaution the rockets were outfitted with a system in which they would disarm if they missed their target. However, the system was faulty, and only 15 would be found on the ground un-detonated. The rest detonated in various areas in northeastern Los Angeles County.  Fortunately the area was sparsely populated and no casualties resulted, but there was some property damage. One Edna Carlson reported that a piece of shrapnel burst through the front window of her home, ricocheted off the ceiling, went through a wall and came to rest in a kitchen cupboard. Another man reported that a rocket exploded directly in front of his car while driving west of State Route 138. Two men in Placerita Canyon had been eating in their utility truck; right after they left it to sit under the shade of a tree, a rocket struck it destroying it. The worst damage was caused by the brush fires started by the rockets, which over two days scorched over 1,000 acres.