The type saw some service in the Pacific Theater against the Japanese, but continuing developmental issues affecting the aircraft, along with the success of operations using more conventional weapons, led to the decision being made to cancel the assault drone program in October 1944.

In 1936, Lieutenant Commander Delmar S. Fahrney proposed that unpiloted, remotely controlled aircraft had potential for use by the United States Navy in combat operations.

[1] Powered by two Lycoming O-435 engines of 220 horsepower (160 kW) each, the TDR-1 used a remarkably simple design, with a steel-tube frame constructed by the Schwinn bicycle company covered with a molded wood skin,[2] thus making little use of strategic materials so as not to impede production of higher priority aircraft.

[1] In September 1942, the U.S. Navy chose DeKalb, Illinois to be the site for the manufacture of the drone TDR-1 aircraft, and built an airport on the city's east side.

[7] Additional testing was conducted by SATFOR in July, complete with a strike against a previously beached Japanese freighter, Yumasuki Maru, including management of the flight from a 7 miles (11 km) distant TBM Avenger control aircraft, which could monitor the view from the TDRs via early television technology.