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“ VOLUME XXVIII—No. 14 y * ‘ U.S. News & World Report = WASHINGTON, D. C. FLYING SAUCERS—THE REAL STORY: U.S. BUILT FIRST ONE IN 1942 Jet-Propelled Disks Can Outfly Other Planes Observers of “flying saucers’’ aren’t just seeing things. Theyre real—aircraft that conform to ac- cepted laws. Sky disks, manned by regular pilots, can hover aloft, spurt ahead at tremendous speed, out- maneuver conventional craft. No official announcements are being made yet. But about the only big secret left is who makes them. Evidence points to Navy experiments. The real story on “flying saucers” is finally coming to light. What the saucers are, how they operate, and how they have been tested in U.S., all can be told in detail at this time. That story, without violating present security regulations, points to these basic conclusions by engineers competent to appraise reports of reliable observers: Flying saucers, seen by hundreds of competent observers over most parts of U.S., are accepted as real. Evidence is that they are aircraft of a revolutionary type, a combination of helicopter and fast jet plane. They conform to well-known prin- ciples of aerodynamics. An early model of these saucers was built by U.S. engineers in 1942, achieved more than 100 successful test flights. That project then was taken over by the Navy in wartime. Much more advanced models now are being built. Just where present saucers are being built also is indicated by evidence now available. In more detail, the story pieced together from nonsecret testimony of responsible U.S. scientists, pri- vate observers and military offi- cials, is this: Early models of the flying saucer, pictured on this page and the next, were built by U.S. Gov- ernment engineers of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronau- APRIL 7, 1950 © tics. Similar flying-saucer projects were begun in Germany and Italy at the same time, in 1942. The first U.S. model, designed by Charles H. Zimmerman, of NACA, was elliptical in shape, powered by two piston engines and driven by twin propellers. It had a maximum speed between 400 and 500 miles an hour. More important, it could rise almost vertically and _ its minimum speed for landing was only about 35 miles an hour, a great advan- tage in military and naval aircraft. And it was far more maneuverable than con- ventional military planes. Idea behind those original flying-sau- cer projects, both in U.S. and abroad in Germany and Italy, was to overcome basic drawbacks of conventional aircraft by new techniques. A plane that could rise almost straight would not need long airfields, could be used from any cleared area just behind front-line troops or from the deck of any Navy combat ship. If that plane, in addition, had great speed and more maneuverability, it could prob- ably outfly any conventional aircraf? In United States, the first model seemed to fulfill these requirements, but the less- = -NACA photo U. S. ‘SAUCER’—1942 MODEL . . a combination of helicopter and fast jet plane ened stability of the wingless craft re- quired more research. Present flying saucers apparently have overcome this problem of stability by use of very advanced design. An analysis of reports submitted by compe- tent observers show this: What they look like, first, is de- scribed in well-documented accounts. Those accounts show saucers to be exact- ly 105 feet in diameter, circular in shape. They have what appear to be jet nozzles arranged all around the outer rim, just below the center of gravity. They are made of a metal alloy, with a dull whitish color. There are no rudders, ailerons, or other protruding surfaces. From the side, the saucers appear about 10 feet thick- there are no exact measurements from this angle in publicly available accounts. They are built in three layers, with the center layer slightly larger in diameter than the other two. That is the picture agreed on by quali fied observers of saucers in flight—com- mercial aircraft pilots, fighter pilots who have chased these aircraft, trained air- plane spotters, high-ranking Army and Air Force officers. It is backed by exact measurement made by a group of scientists last April near White Sands Proving Ground base, with instruments set up to observe high- altitude balloons, who suddenly ob- served a saucer and tracked it for several minutes, thereby getting reliable data on its size, speed, alti- tude and maneuverability. How they operate now can be told in some detail, too. Based on this description, the probable tech- nique used by current saucers is explained by a top-level Govern- ment aeronautical engineer in this manner: Power for these aircraft, at their present stage of development, ob- viously is supplied by jet engines. Each saucer appears to have a series of variable-direction jet noz- zles around its rim, with a compli- cated central control system. Fuel used is unknown—the exhaust flame has been observed to be red-orange in some cases, blue in others, miss- 13