Marilyn Monroe – Builder of drones!

If you are any sort of pop-culture aficionado you have seen the above picture before. It’s of little-known factory worker Norma Jean Dougherty, who would later go on to become Marilyn Monroe. I bring it up because there are a few fun bits to link you to.

First, that’s Norma Jean with a drone! The word drone has a lot of negative connotations in present day parlance, but in reality it is just an unmanned aerial vehicle. What you see Norma Jean working on, or posing with at least, is the OQ-2 Radioplane. The OQ-2 was used to train anti-aircraft gunners. The man behind the OQ-2, Reginald Denny, has an interesting story as well.

Getting back to the picture, the story of how it came to be, and how it served to start Norma Jean’s transition to becoming Marilyn is an interesting one. There is a good version of it on The Pop History Dig.