Flying Saucers in Aviation History
The events of 1947, when it is believed that a flying saucer of aliens crashed near the town of Roswell in the United States, seriously affected world pop culture. The distribution of portable cameras and movie cameras, which became much more accessible in the second half of the 20th century, also played a role. As a result, more and more people became observers of various unidentified flying objects, the origin and nature of which they could not explain, but could capture on film.
Over time, flying saucers and various disc-shaped objects became the symbol of UFOs around the world, and the interest in such unusual phenomena has become so great that today even UFO Day exists in the world, which is also called UFO Day. At the same time, the only flying saucers, the existence of which has a scientific basis, are not connected in any way with guests from other planets or extraterrestrial intelligence and have a completely terrestrial origin. Already at the beginning of the 20th century, the first attempts to create disk-shaped aircraft appeared. Despite the fact that the most famous projects on creating flying saucers are associated with history Hitlerite Germany, the first projects in this area were carried out not in Europe, but in the USA and even before the outbreak of World War II.
The first work on unusual projects of aircraft with a round wing began at the very dawn of development aviation. Currently, the designer, who, for the first time in history, turned to the disc-shaped wing, is considered an American by Chance Vout. As early as 1911, this inventor first proposed the creation of an aircraft of unusual shape and design. It was a project of an aircraft with a wooden structure and a disk-shaped wing of a large area. An umbrella airplane made of the simplest materials - wood and fabric - went down in history forever, although it did not complete a single flight.
The design of the unusual aircraft was simple and consisted of 9 beams, which when connected were a star. Between the wooden beams, Chance Woot pulled an ordinary cloth, a similar design very much resembled an umbrella in shape, so the aircraft got its name. At the rear of the aircraft were two fabric elevons that were located on movable extension beams. The wheeled landing gear was three-post.
The American designer turned to the disk-shaped form of the wing, as he believed that a large-area wing would provide the aircraft with great lift, allowing the machine to take off at low speed. Unfortunately, the unusual aircraft of Chance Vout did not fly up to the sky, so the designer failed to confirm or refute his ideas. It is known that at about the same time a similar aircraft was designed in the UK, but that car crashed in the first flight immediately after taking off from the ground.
The second American designer, who set about trying to create an airplane with a disc-shaped wing, was Stephen Nemeth. Unlike its predecessor, Németh created a plane that flew into the sky and quite successfully performed flights. The aircraft with an almost perfectly round wing was created by Nemeth in collaboration with students of the University of Miami, this happened in 1934 year. An unusual aircraft, which attracted the views of the townsfolk with one of its appearance, went down in history under the name Nemeth Parasol. Unofficial nicknames based on its similarity with an umbrella and saucer were also assigned to this aircraft.
To create an unusual aircraft, the designer used the elongated fuselage of the previously decommissioned Alliance A-1 Argo serial biplane; lengthening the fuselage made it possible to double. Directly above the fuselage was a wing of perfectly round shape. The wing was located on special struts, like on ordinary biplanes, there were ailerons on the wingtips. The heart of the aircraft was the Warner Scarab radial aircraft engine, which developed 110 horsepower. Engine power was enough to provide the aircraft with a maximum flight speed of more than 217 km / h. At the same time, landing speed was very small - only 40 km / h, which allowed the aircraft to land on very tiny sites.
The main feature of the next "flying umbrella" was a round wing with a diameter of 4,6 meters. A slight lengthening of the wing allowed the aircraft to fly at larger than usual angles of attack, and also provided the aircraft with a smooth and non-dangerous decrease, which was somewhat reminiscent of a decrease in a parachute pilot. Actually, the wing also performed the role of a parachute, which Stephen Nemeth demonstrated during test flights. The plane could make a soft landing almost vertically with the engine turned off. Low landing speeds and round wing capabilities made the aircraft very easy to fly even for novice pilots. Despite a number of advantages of further development, the “flying saucer” did not receive Nemeth, at the turn of the 1934-1935 the project was abandoned, it didn’t go beyond the constructed flight instance. Moreover, even later developments on this project were most likely used in the USA in the design of gyroplanes.
The United States remained true to itself during the Second World War. Attempts to create a plane of unusual shape continued in the war years and led to the creation of an experimental fighter, which was called Flying Pancake (flying pancake), the official V-173 index. The disk-shaped fighter, to the creation of which the designer Charles Zimmerman had a hand, first flew into the sky in November 1942. Later, on the basis of this model, they tried to create a carrier-based fighter, which received the XF5U index.
For the first time, Charles Zimmerman turned to the idea of creating a disk-shaped aircraft back in the 1937 year, his initial goal was to create a flying car, which science fiction writers have actively written about. However, the commercial prospects of the civilian version were considered rather vague. Therefore, the leadership of the company Chance-Vought, which supported the unusual Zimmermann project, recommended that the designer abandon the idea of a civilian three-seater aircraft, focusing on creating a fighter that could interest the military.
As a result, one of the strangest aircraft of the 20th century was born, which differed from any modern aircraft in its extremely unusual appearance. "Flying pancake" received a glider without a fuselage, made in the form of a semicircle. In the front of the aircraft, the designer placed the cockpit, and two engines with three-blade propellers were installed on the sides of the cockpit. At the rear of the aircraft, one could see two small-sized half-wings - horizontal stabilizers with elevators, as well as two vertical stabilizers on which rudders were located. The total length of the unusual experimental fighter did not exceed 8,1 meters, and the width - 7,1 meters.
The new aircraft was actively tested for several years, the last flights of prototypes were completed only in 1947, and in total at least 190 flights or 132 flight hours were performed. At the same time, the maximum flight speed of the V-173 did not exceed 222 km / h. The reason was the low power of the engines installed on the prototype, each of them developed no more than 80 hp. Much more successful was the prototype for the US Navy, which was designated the XF5U. In total, two experimental aircraft of this model were built. The aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of more than 8,5 tons received Pratt & Whitney R-2000 engines with a capacity of 1350 hp, adequate for its weight and dimensions. each. Thanks to this, one of the prototypes developed a speed of 811 km / h in horizontal flight.
Despite a number of successes, the project was curtailed in 1947. Although the XF5U could be used effectively from aircraft carriers, with a mass of more than 8,5 tons, the aircraft could take off from small sites. At the same time, the controllability of the aircraft left much to be desired, and the design using two piston engines was considered obsolete. The era of jet aviation was approaching, and it was not possible to install jet engines on board the XF5U, with such an upgrade the aircraft would become completely uncontrollable in flight.
Aircraft designer Charles Zimmerman, who launched the “flying pancake” story in the United States, emigrated to America from Germany. But even without it, in the homeland of Willy Messerschmitt and Hugo Junkers there were designers who were also attracted to the idea of creating an aircraft of an unusual disk-shaped shape. It was the developments of the Third Reich that gained the greatest fame in the world and gave rise to a lot of conspiracy theories, becoming a real element of modern pop culture, lit up in a large number of fantastic books, films and comics.
As often happens with conspiracy theories, they have nothing to do with reality. Most of the projects that were described after the end of World War II, had nothing to do with reality and did not even exist in the form of drawings. At the same time, in the wake of interest in UFOs in the second half of the 20th century, such literature became widespread, first in Europe and then throughout the world. At the same time, German designers did develop unusual aircraft in form, but these were experiments with gyroplanes, helicopters and ekranoplanes.
Most likely, the only German aircraft of the Second World War, which resembled a UFO in shape, is the experimental Sack AS-6 aircraft, whose photographs have survived to this day. It seems curious that the only German project of a disk-shaped aircraft, which reached the stage of construction of a prototype, was created by a self-taught amateur. The design of a disk-shaped aircraft at the end of the 1930's was proposed by Arthur Zack, an ordinary peasant from near Leipzig.
It helped Zack that Colonel General Ernst Udet became interested in his unusual plane, and he gave Sack AS-6 a ticket to life. But the experimental aircraft was only ready for the 1944 year. It is believed that only one built instance came to flight tests. The prototype was built using various elements of other aircraft. So, the cockpit was taken from the Me Bf-109B fighter, the engine was removed from the Me Bf-108, on which the 8-cylinder air-cooled Arnus 240 horsepower was installed. The only native thing in the Sack AS-6 aircraft was a round wing, which was made of wood and lined with plywood. The total mass of a small aircraft with a wing diameter of 6,4 meters did not exceed 800 kg. That's just the plane failed to rise into the sky. Everything was limited only by runway runs. In conditions when the Third Reich was falling apart literally before our eyes, suffering serious defeats in the East and in the West, nobody began to finalize and bring to mind the project.
After the Second World War, interest in aircraft of an unusual round shape did not disappear. Only now Canadians seized the palm, who for a long time and persistently tried to impose on their neighbors unusual Avrocar developments. The story of how Canadians in the 1950 and the beginning of the 1960's tried to sell their disc-shaped aircraft to the American military and realize the concept of a “flying jeep” is worthy of a separate story.
Despite numerous failures with the attempt to create disk-shaped aircraft, such projects still attract numerous engineers from different countries. Last news To create “flying saucers”, they came to us from Romania, where the designers Razvan Sabi and Joseph Tapos are busy creating an apparatus capable of performing vertical take-off and landing and performing horizontal flight at supersonic speed. So far, tests have been carried out only unmanned prototype apparatus with a diameter of 1,2 meters. It is known that the experimental sample is equipped with four electric fans, which are necessary to ensure vertical take-off and landing of the apparatus, and two fans installed in the rear part and designed for horizontal flight. In the future, designers are going to replace the tail fans with turbojet engines. We will learn in the near future whether the Romanian project of the ADIFO aircraft (All DIrections Flying Object) will become successful.
Over time, flying saucers and various disc-shaped objects became the symbol of UFOs around the world, and the interest in such unusual phenomena has become so great that today even UFO Day exists in the world, which is also called UFO Day. At the same time, the only flying saucers, the existence of which has a scientific basis, are not connected in any way with guests from other planets or extraterrestrial intelligence and have a completely terrestrial origin. Already at the beginning of the 20th century, the first attempts to create disk-shaped aircraft appeared. Despite the fact that the most famous projects on creating flying saucers are associated with history Hitlerite Germany, the first projects in this area were carried out not in Europe, but in the USA and even before the outbreak of World War II.
Chance Vaught Umbrella Aircraft
The first work on unusual projects of aircraft with a round wing began at the very dawn of development aviation. Currently, the designer, who, for the first time in history, turned to the disc-shaped wing, is considered an American by Chance Vout. As early as 1911, this inventor first proposed the creation of an aircraft of unusual shape and design. It was a project of an aircraft with a wooden structure and a disk-shaped wing of a large area. An umbrella airplane made of the simplest materials - wood and fabric - went down in history forever, although it did not complete a single flight.
The design of the unusual aircraft was simple and consisted of 9 beams, which when connected were a star. Between the wooden beams, Chance Woot pulled an ordinary cloth, a similar design very much resembled an umbrella in shape, so the aircraft got its name. At the rear of the aircraft were two fabric elevons that were located on movable extension beams. The wheeled landing gear was three-post.
Chance Vaught Umbrella Aircraft
The American designer turned to the disk-shaped form of the wing, as he believed that a large-area wing would provide the aircraft with great lift, allowing the machine to take off at low speed. Unfortunately, the unusual aircraft of Chance Vout did not fly up to the sky, so the designer failed to confirm or refute his ideas. It is known that at about the same time a similar aircraft was designed in the UK, but that car crashed in the first flight immediately after taking off from the ground.
Steven Nemeth's Flying Saucer
The second American designer, who set about trying to create an airplane with a disc-shaped wing, was Stephen Nemeth. Unlike its predecessor, Németh created a plane that flew into the sky and quite successfully performed flights. The aircraft with an almost perfectly round wing was created by Nemeth in collaboration with students of the University of Miami, this happened in 1934 year. An unusual aircraft, which attracted the views of the townsfolk with one of its appearance, went down in history under the name Nemeth Parasol. Unofficial nicknames based on its similarity with an umbrella and saucer were also assigned to this aircraft.
To create an unusual aircraft, the designer used the elongated fuselage of the previously decommissioned Alliance A-1 Argo serial biplane; lengthening the fuselage made it possible to double. Directly above the fuselage was a wing of perfectly round shape. The wing was located on special struts, like on ordinary biplanes, there were ailerons on the wingtips. The heart of the aircraft was the Warner Scarab radial aircraft engine, which developed 110 horsepower. Engine power was enough to provide the aircraft with a maximum flight speed of more than 217 km / h. At the same time, landing speed was very small - only 40 km / h, which allowed the aircraft to land on very tiny sites.
Steven Nemeth's Flying Saucer
The main feature of the next "flying umbrella" was a round wing with a diameter of 4,6 meters. A slight lengthening of the wing allowed the aircraft to fly at larger than usual angles of attack, and also provided the aircraft with a smooth and non-dangerous decrease, which was somewhat reminiscent of a decrease in a parachute pilot. Actually, the wing also performed the role of a parachute, which Stephen Nemeth demonstrated during test flights. The plane could make a soft landing almost vertically with the engine turned off. Low landing speeds and round wing capabilities made the aircraft very easy to fly even for novice pilots. Despite a number of advantages of further development, the “flying saucer” did not receive Nemeth, at the turn of the 1934-1935 the project was abandoned, it didn’t go beyond the constructed flight instance. Moreover, even later developments on this project were most likely used in the USA in the design of gyroplanes.
Flying pancake. XF5U fighter
The United States remained true to itself during the Second World War. Attempts to create a plane of unusual shape continued in the war years and led to the creation of an experimental fighter, which was called Flying Pancake (flying pancake), the official V-173 index. The disk-shaped fighter, to the creation of which the designer Charles Zimmerman had a hand, first flew into the sky in November 1942. Later, on the basis of this model, they tried to create a carrier-based fighter, which received the XF5U index.
For the first time, Charles Zimmerman turned to the idea of creating a disk-shaped aircraft back in the 1937 year, his initial goal was to create a flying car, which science fiction writers have actively written about. However, the commercial prospects of the civilian version were considered rather vague. Therefore, the leadership of the company Chance-Vought, which supported the unusual Zimmermann project, recommended that the designer abandon the idea of a civilian three-seater aircraft, focusing on creating a fighter that could interest the military.
V-173 in flight
As a result, one of the strangest aircraft of the 20th century was born, which differed from any modern aircraft in its extremely unusual appearance. "Flying pancake" received a glider without a fuselage, made in the form of a semicircle. In the front of the aircraft, the designer placed the cockpit, and two engines with three-blade propellers were installed on the sides of the cockpit. At the rear of the aircraft, one could see two small-sized half-wings - horizontal stabilizers with elevators, as well as two vertical stabilizers on which rudders were located. The total length of the unusual experimental fighter did not exceed 8,1 meters, and the width - 7,1 meters.
The new aircraft was actively tested for several years, the last flights of prototypes were completed only in 1947, and in total at least 190 flights or 132 flight hours were performed. At the same time, the maximum flight speed of the V-173 did not exceed 222 km / h. The reason was the low power of the engines installed on the prototype, each of them developed no more than 80 hp. Much more successful was the prototype for the US Navy, which was designated the XF5U. In total, two experimental aircraft of this model were built. The aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of more than 8,5 tons received Pratt & Whitney R-2000 engines with a capacity of 1350 hp, adequate for its weight and dimensions. each. Thanks to this, one of the prototypes developed a speed of 811 km / h in horizontal flight.
XF5U carrier-based fighter prototype
Despite a number of successes, the project was curtailed in 1947. Although the XF5U could be used effectively from aircraft carriers, with a mass of more than 8,5 tons, the aircraft could take off from small sites. At the same time, the controllability of the aircraft left much to be desired, and the design using two piston engines was considered obsolete. The era of jet aviation was approaching, and it was not possible to install jet engines on board the XF5U, with such an upgrade the aircraft would become completely uncontrollable in flight.
Flying Saucers of the Third Reich
Aircraft designer Charles Zimmerman, who launched the “flying pancake” story in the United States, emigrated to America from Germany. But even without it, in the homeland of Willy Messerschmitt and Hugo Junkers there were designers who were also attracted to the idea of creating an aircraft of an unusual disk-shaped shape. It was the developments of the Third Reich that gained the greatest fame in the world and gave rise to a lot of conspiracy theories, becoming a real element of modern pop culture, lit up in a large number of fantastic books, films and comics.
As often happens with conspiracy theories, they have nothing to do with reality. Most of the projects that were described after the end of World War II, had nothing to do with reality and did not even exist in the form of drawings. At the same time, in the wake of interest in UFOs in the second half of the 20th century, such literature became widespread, first in Europe and then throughout the world. At the same time, German designers did develop unusual aircraft in form, but these were experiments with gyroplanes, helicopters and ekranoplanes.
Sack AS-6
Most likely, the only German aircraft of the Second World War, which resembled a UFO in shape, is the experimental Sack AS-6 aircraft, whose photographs have survived to this day. It seems curious that the only German project of a disk-shaped aircraft, which reached the stage of construction of a prototype, was created by a self-taught amateur. The design of a disk-shaped aircraft at the end of the 1930's was proposed by Arthur Zack, an ordinary peasant from near Leipzig.
It helped Zack that Colonel General Ernst Udet became interested in his unusual plane, and he gave Sack AS-6 a ticket to life. But the experimental aircraft was only ready for the 1944 year. It is believed that only one built instance came to flight tests. The prototype was built using various elements of other aircraft. So, the cockpit was taken from the Me Bf-109B fighter, the engine was removed from the Me Bf-108, on which the 8-cylinder air-cooled Arnus 240 horsepower was installed. The only native thing in the Sack AS-6 aircraft was a round wing, which was made of wood and lined with plywood. The total mass of a small aircraft with a wing diameter of 6,4 meters did not exceed 800 kg. That's just the plane failed to rise into the sky. Everything was limited only by runway runs. In conditions when the Third Reich was falling apart literally before our eyes, suffering serious defeats in the East and in the West, nobody began to finalize and bring to mind the project.
After the Second World War, interest in aircraft of an unusual round shape did not disappear. Only now Canadians seized the palm, who for a long time and persistently tried to impose on their neighbors unusual Avrocar developments. The story of how Canadians in the 1950 and the beginning of the 1960's tried to sell their disc-shaped aircraft to the American military and realize the concept of a “flying jeep” is worthy of a separate story.
Despite numerous failures with the attempt to create disk-shaped aircraft, such projects still attract numerous engineers from different countries. Last news To create “flying saucers”, they came to us from Romania, where the designers Razvan Sabi and Joseph Tapos are busy creating an apparatus capable of performing vertical take-off and landing and performing horizontal flight at supersonic speed. So far, tests have been carried out only unmanned prototype apparatus with a diameter of 1,2 meters. It is known that the experimental sample is equipped with four electric fans, which are necessary to ensure vertical take-off and landing of the apparatus, and two fans installed in the rear part and designed for horizontal flight. In the future, designers are going to replace the tail fans with turbojet engines. We will learn in the near future whether the Romanian project of the ADIFO aircraft (All DIrections Flying Object) will become successful.
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