Military Object Washes Up On Outer Cape Beach

Photo provided by the Cape Cod National Seashore.

WELLFLEET – The Cape Cod National Seashore says an old piece of military equipment washed ashore on Marconi Beach in Wellfleet last week.

The object was the fuselage of a Remote Control Aerial Target or RCAT, which was a drone plane used for target practice during anti-aircraft training in the 1940s and 50s.

The training took place at the former U.S. military site known as Camp Wellfleet.

According to the CCNS, aircraft equipped with an RCAT would take off from a now-defunct runway located in the Wellfleet woods, then the drone was rocket-launched off the plane at up to 60 miles per hour, and controlled remotely from the bluff.