Reginald Denny
Most people knew him as a motion picture actor but the aeromodelling community and the country owe him a great debt because of his significant contributions to many areas of aeronautics.
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Model Shop
A photo of his model shop on Hollywood Boulevard and information about some of his modeling activities including the N.A.A. record, and kits and engines sold nationwide. |
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Films
a list of about 130 films and biographical information. |
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Bio A short page of biographical information |
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American Magazine Article
A 1947 article from American Magazine showing him flying a drone from a rail launch. |
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Robot Plane
After the H-bomb tests the US navy revealed Denny's WWII contributions and the LA times wrote it up. Denny's suggestion that his target drones be used as weapons fell on deaf ears in 1940, but by 1944 hundreds were used in the South Pacific. |
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LA Times Salute
A Decade after his death with Northorp Ventura Divison making literally thousands of the target drones, the Los Angleles Times produced a salute to Reginald Denny. |
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Denny Industries
The story of Denny industries that eventually became Northrop Corporation's Ventura division and the invention of the radio controlled target drone told in his own words. |
| Index
The index for this section |
The pages linked in show his model shop, shots of his radio control aircraft, model airplane shop, ads for the models he marketed nationally, filmography, and biography.
The film and some biographical information is taken from The Internet Movie Data Base Ltd. and is their Copyright © 1990-1997 . Significant portions of the Biographical information were later corrected by his surviving daughter. The biographical information related to models, flying, and the aerospace industry is primarily my own gained from reading and conversations over the years, however now significantly improved based on the kind support of his daughter. The hobby shop and model production information is from my own photos and records.
Here is a man that deserves a lot more model press than he ever got. Most of the AMA Hall of Fame folks would have to take a back seat to Reginald Denny. That's my opinion, of course, but drop in to these pages and see how he comes out.
How many others had a career long, productive, and diverse this? His record includes:
- After being an RAF pilot in World War I, he had a successful motion picture career with over 110 pictures (see films) in 45 years.
- Started and ran a firm that developed and marketed model aircraft and owned a famous model airplane shop for nearly 30 years.
- Flew Radio Control Models from 1937 until the 50's.
- Set N.A.A. (the progenitor of the A.M.A.) endurance and distance records.
- Founded a large aerospace corporation that became a division of Northrop-Grumman based upon his successful development and marketing of a Radio Controlled target aircraft later used as a weapon in World WarII
To see the World War II Radioplane target drone and some of the work that Denny fostered try this page of the Wright-Patterson Air Museum.
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/early_years/ey16c.htm
For a better look at his earliest accomplishment, the Western Museum of Flight here in Los Angeles has a significant collection and Radioplane facts. see
This site has a photo and general arrangement drawings for the original USN TDD "Target Drone Denny" that are from the John Shupek collection.