The Ryan BQM-34A Firebee I, first flown in 1951, became one of the world's most popular target drones and the first in Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical's large family of target drones. It was used by all three military services, with the Air Force using the BQM-34A, the Army the MQM-34D, and the Navy the BQM-34A and BQM-34S. Firebee was a subsonic drone with a maximum speed of 600 knots, or 690 miles per hour, could operate at altitudes up to 60,000 feet, and could reach speeds up to Mach 1.5 for 14 seconds, with an endurance of 45 minutes. It could be launched from beneath a specially modified aircraft, from a ship, or from a ground launching platform; surface launches used a solid-propellant rocket and flight was sustained by a turbojet engine, and the craft was recovered by parachute. It was controlled either from the ground or from a manned aircraft. At White Sands, Firebee was used primarily to develop and test new weapon systems, and probably nearly every U.S. surface-to-air or air-to-air missile was tested against it. Firing records show the first Firebee was launched there by the Army in 1961, and between 1961 and 1977, when the records end, the Army and Air Force fired 1101 Firebees, both MQM-34A and BQM-34A. Its listed specifications were a length of 22.9 feet, a wingspan of 12.9 feet, a weight of 3,400 pounds, a ceiling of 60,000 feet, a speed of 738 miles per hour, or Mach 0.97, a first firing in 1958, and an endurance of 115 minutes.