The TDU-10/B Dart aerial gunnery target was towed behind an airplane on a 1,500 to 2,000 foot cable and was equipped with a radar reflector to permit the use of radar gun sights. They are about 16 feet long and weight 200 pounds. Operating altitudes are between 3,000 to 30,000 feet and speeds from 190 Knots up to Mach 0.85.

This Dart on display at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio shows damage caused by 50 caliber bullets fired from a F-84F of the Ohio Air National Guard. (U.S. Air Force photo)

Northrop F-5F

This Dart target has a Northrop F-5F as a tow plane. The pod with the cable reel is mounted on a weapons pylon. I've also seen photos of F-4s and F-104s used as tow planes. (U.S. Air Force photo)

View of Cuddeback Lake from the south. It rained yesterday, so thought it best to avoid driving across the lake bed and drove around it. I'm out here today to search an area I know a large number of Darts are located. Wanted to do an easy hike today, plus I'm hoping that while checking out all the Darts, that I might stumble across an aircraft crash site or some other interesting stuff.

The roads were a little damp but no puddles, probably didn't rain much in this area.

Didn't take much hiking to come upon the first piece from a Dart. This is one of the four wing panels. It's about twelve feet long.

When I saw this piece from a distance, thought that it might be from an airplane. Soon as I picked it up, could tell from the light weight material it was skin from a Dart.

Turning it over, could see the telltale honeycomb pattern from a Dart. Also the aluminum is really light weight soft stuff, only about .010 in thickness.

These are the root edges of a set of four wings. Looks like they were unbolted from the keel. Part of the tow bridle can be seen.

Closer view of part of the tow bridle assembly.

Hiking a little further, I came upon this piece of wing.

Close up of the same piece shows the honeycomb core used on the wing panels.

This wing panel is attached to the keel and has all four of the fairings in place.

View from the rear.

Closer view shows how the wing panels are held in place on the keel.

Close up of the fairings.

Nose of the keel. About two feet of the keel along with the adjusting counter weight is broken off.

A couple hundred yards away, found another wing panel.

This one had a different type of core structure. Instead of the honeycomb pattern, it has a corrugated one, never seen this type before.

Saw this from about a hundred yards off. At first wasn't sure what it was. Turned out to be a small parachute, about three feet in diameter.

Closer view showing it's construction, the chute is made from a mesh material. Thinking that it might be from a flare, found a few of those in the area.

This looks new, a concrete pad about six feet square, the forms are still on it. Looks like there is a mount for a pole. The only thing I could think that it might be for is a solar powered weather station.

Keel with fairings and a few pieces from the wing panels.

Some type of mount. It's badly bent, but it looks like it might be to stabilize the Dart while it's still reeled in on the tow plane.

The fairings on this one are made from fiberglass. The small brackets on the back are the mounts for the radar reflector.

I think that this is a LUU-2 flare. Looks like it didn't ignite or most of the casing would have burned away. It's three feet long and about five inches in diameter.

Writing on the flare, looks like if I touched it, it would wipe off. Didn't have my reading glasses with me, so couldn't read it. It has a warning and instructions on setting the fuzes.

The timer mechanism that deploys the parachute and ignites the flare. It has a SAFE and times ranging from 5 to 30 seconds.

Hiking on found this one.

View from the front showing the adjusting counter weight.

Closer view of the adjusting counter weight shows that it was pushed back when the Dart hit the ground. The rails that it is mounted on has multiple holes where it can be move forward or back to adjust the CG of the Dart. Insert photo shows the adjustable weight.

Further back is the attachment point of the tow line bridle.

One of the wing panels had a notch in it. Guessing that it is to clear the wing on the tow plane when it is reeled in.

View from the rear showing the radar reflector.

Close up of the radar reflector. The reflector permitted the use of radar gun sights.

Ammo link for a 50cal.

Part of a tow cable. I found three tow cables while searching the area.

Close up of the cable showing the spiral cover over the stranded cable.

Ammo link from a 20mm.

Another flare, this one has most of the case melted away.

Another set of four wing panels and no keel.

I found a few groups of wings like these, looks like someone unbolted the wings and took the aluminum keels.

Pieces from a MK-76 practice bomb.

Another four wing panels.

Most of the aluminum was missing on these four panels.

These panels have been out here a long time.

An old KEEP OUT sign on the perimeter fence of the Cuddeback Air-to-Ground Gunnery Range.

Another set of wing panels.