In addition to several incidents in which the Chinese fighters were
intercepting mainly USN aircraft passing by the Hainan Island, between 1968
and 1970 the 100th TRW USAF intensively operated also BQM-34 reconnaissance
drones over Chinese mainland and North Vietnam.

Dozens of these were shot down by Chinese and Vietnamese air defences:
mostly SAM&AAA, but few also by Chinese and Vietnamese MiGs (in turn the
BQM-34s have caused a loss of up to a dozen of MiGs: there is a story that
one of the drones even became the first US "ace" in SEA - after causing a
loss of five Vietnamese MiG-17s and MiG-21s, in early 1970).

Interestingly, the Chinese developed a whole family of UAVs on the basis of
the wreckage of US BQM-34s, starting with air-launched Chang Hing ("Long
Rainbow", originally air-launched from a Tu-4 bomber - the Soviet copy of
the B-29), developed by the Beijing Technical Institute and carried by
specially equipped Y-8E transports. Even the newest Chinese Chong Hong UAV,
the model of which was shown two years back on the Air Show in Zhuhai, is
clearly showing the resemblance to the AQM-34N.

Tom Cooper
Co-Author:
Iran-Iraq War in the Air, 1980-1988:
http://www.acig.org/pg1/content.php
and,
Iranian F-4 Phantom II Units in Combat:
http://www.osprey-publishing.co.uk/t...hp/title=S6585