An artifact resembling an aircraft fuselage washed up at Cape Cod, and historians say it is linked to military training during the 1940s and 1950s. (Cape Cod National Seashore/Facebook)
(Tribune News Service) — A puzzling object resembling an aircraft fuselage washed up on a Cape Cod beach, and historians say closer inspection has revealed it’s an artifact linked to military training during the Cold War.
The missile-like contraption was found the first week of April at Massachusetts’ Marconi Beach, “and staff worked together to get it off the beach before it was swept away,” Cape Cod National Seashore reported in a Facebook post Wednesday.
“Park historian Bill Burke examined the object and determined that it was in fact the fuselage of a RCAT (Remote Control Aerial Target),” park officials wrote.
“RCATs were drone planes used for target practice for anti-aircraft training off Marconi at a former United States military training camp (Camp Wellfleet) during the 1940s and 50s.”
Aircraft at Camp Wellfleet were fitted with RCAT, which were “rocket-launched off the aircraft at 0 to 60 mph within the first 30 feet.” The devices were then remotely controlled from a bluff, officials said.
The aircraft were often referred to as “toy airplanes,” but historians say they were sophisticated and could reach speeds of 225 mph, historians say. (NPS/Hohman, NPS Archives)
Anti-aircraft crews manning “mostly 40 MM guns” trained by firing at RCATs, which hints the seafloor could be littered with parts of the aircraft.
The state-of-the-art program was considered “top secret” as the U.S. was engaged in a Cold War with the Soviet Union, according to a website devoted to Camp Wellfleet.
“The airplanes were all metal, with a 10-foot wing span, and a skid along the bottom for emergency landings, when the parachute wouldn’t work. The speed of the airplane was 225 miles per hour,” the site reports.
“Some would make as many as 20 flights, while others would fly only once. If they took a direct hit in the gas tank, this would cause the plane to explode, and the gallons of fuel would cause quite a spectacular yet expensive explosion.”
National Park Service officials did not report what will become of the recovered RCAT.
Marconi Beach is on the ocean side of Cape Cod, about a 20-mile drive south from Provincetown.
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