US military's plans for flying saucers explained in declassified documents
Source: Guardian
US military's plans for flying saucers explained in declassified documents
Newly released diagrams show scale of the future that never was after air force cancelled funding for wobbly disc-shaped craft
by Adam Gabbatt
Monday 8 October 2012 13.13 EDT guardian.co.uk
These days, flying saucers are most commonly associated with sci-fi films and conspiracy theories, but in the 1950s, some saw them as the future of aviation.
Documents published by the US National Archives give new information about a craft commissioned by the US air force, which if successfully developed would have achieved speeds of 2,600mph and flown at around 100,000ft.
Details of the proposed craft have been around for years. But the declassified papers include new diagrams and documents that demonstrate the scale of the project's ambition.
The US air force contracted the work to a now-defunct Canadian company, Avro. In one document, Avro envisaged a "top speed potential between Mach 3 and Mach 4, a ceiling of over 100,000ft and a maximum range with allowances of about 1,000 nautical miles". That would have sent the flying saucer spinning into the Earth's stratosphere.
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-news-blog/2012/oct/08/us-military-flying-saucers
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I mean,...who cares if it'll be taken out in two seconds in a dogfight because it can't roll for shit not only due to it's shape but because the rotating turbine acts as a gyroscope. Even if you CAN get it in a roll it's not going to be pinpoint by any means and the damn thing is going to come out of it with a wobble on the vertical axis. Then there's the danger of yaw going into Frisbee mode. On the bright side, pitch is probably great,....for stalling....
Then there's the obvious fact that it that it presents a large profile for ground fire.
But hey! It looks really cool!
Quick message to any advanced civilizations out there: We are not all this fucking stupid and some of us would really appreciate a lift.
