40-foot flying disc of the US Air Force

On the website laesieworks.com The information is analyzed that the US Air Force could develop a disc-shaped aircraft in the period between 1946 and 1967. Little is known about this development; in particular, information about the design of aircraft was taken from a website dedicated to plastic scale models:

In 1967, the writer and former US Navy aviator Jack D. Pickett, along with his business partner Harold Baker, visited MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, to collect information for an article about experimental aircraft, the development of which was funded by the US Air Force. On the outskirts of the base, they were shown four decommissioned aircraft in the form of disks with a diameter of 20, 40, 70 and 116 feet.

As a result of interviews with several employees of the base, Pickett and Baker came to the conclusion that during the 1950s, the US Air Force developed several models of flying disks with jet engines for reconnaissance flights over the territory of the Soviet Union. The disks could accelerate to supersonic speed and reach an altitude close to the boundary of space (50 miles). The flights of disks, especially the most successful 40-foot model, could undoubtedly be the reason for the frequent reports of eyewitnesses of "flying saucers"during this period.

By the early 1960s, funding for the development of such aircraft was discontinued in favor of more promising models.

The publication of the article prepared by Pickett and Baker was canceled, undoubtedly for reasons of national security. Years later, this amazing story was published by Michael Schratt.

The description of the photos given in the article indicates that they are all computer-generated illustrations. None of them is an official photo of the US Air Force.

Since the US Air Force seems very reluctant to declassify these "birds", I created illustrations to give people an idea of what they looked like. Yes, they did exist, but due to problems with stabilization, this particular model was written off.

Mike 2004-08-29

The author of the article indicates that he does not really believe in the reality of the existence of this model, and also compares photos of these aircraft with official photos of aircraft from the NASA website.