<p>Anti-aircraft guns were first developed by the Prussians in 1870, in their unsuccessful attempts to destroy the hydrogen balloons which carried VIP passengers and mail out of Paris, when it was under siege during the Franco-Prussian War. Since that time the primary problem in the use of such weapons has been to hit the target. As a result, early anti-aircraft batteries put up a frightening and noisy screen of fire, intended to force enemy aircraft to avoid the area that was being defended, or to fly at such a height that the accuracy of their scouting or bombing mission was much impaired.
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<p>It was not easy, of course, for anti-aircraft gunners to become very proficient at hitting a moving object. Few pilots would enjoy the task of flying an airplane to serve as a target: even when the target was a drogue, towed some distance behind a tug aircraft, there had been some narrow escapes when height and speed were misjudged and over/under-correction made to the sighting of the gun. In an attempt to resolve this situation, radio-controlled target aircraft were developed, but woe betide the gunner who was clever (or lucky) enough to hit one.
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<p>In the USA, the Culver LCA Cadet lightplane was selected by the US Army Air Corps in 1940 as being suitable for development as a radio-controlled target to satisfy this requirement. The first of these acquired for test purposes (41-18889) was allocated the designation A-8 (later XPQ-8). This was a low-wing monoplane with retractable tricycle-type landing gear, and powered by a 100-hp (75-kW) Continental O-200 flat-four engine. Successful testing resulted in a production order for 200 similar PQ-8s, and at a later date an additional 200 were ordered as PQ-8A (later Q-8A), this version being equipped with a more powerful engine.
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<p>The US Navy had a similar training problem for the anti-aircraft gunners of its warships, and in late 1941 acquired a single example of the US Army PQ-8A for evaluation. An order for 200 similar aircraft, designated TDC-2, was placed with Culver in 1942.
<item><hi format=bold>Performance:</hi> maximum speed 116 mph (187 km/h)
<item><hi format=bold>Weight:</hi> empty 720 lb (327 kg); maximum take-off 1,305 lb (592 kg)
<item><hi format=bold>Dimensions:</hi> span 26 ft 11 in (8.20 m); length 17 ft 8 in (5.38 m); height 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m); wing area 120 sq ft (11.15 m<su>2</su>)
