Man-Made Flying Saucers Pt. 1 and 2

There's a new 2-part article from me at Mysterious Universe on the ever-controversial issue of Flying Saucers of the home-grown kind. Here's how it begins...

"As most people with an interest in the subject of UFOs will be aware, pretty much since the term 'Flying Saucer' was coined in the summer of 1947 rumors have circulated to the effect that some UFOs are secret, military hardware. We’re talking about man-made UFOs. Of course, those who roll their eyes at such possibilities very often bring up the matter of the decidedly ill-fated 'Avrocar.' It was a saucer-shaped vehicle that promised a great deal but ultimately turned out to be a disaster. It’s intriguing to note, however, that in the 1950s – when UFOs were at their height, so to speak – a great deal of enthusiasm for saucer-shaped craft was exhibited by the U.S. military.

"A perfect example of this enthusiasm can be found in the pages of the Air Intelligence Digest, Volume 7, Issue 12, dated December 1954. It states, under the 'Editor’s Notes' section: 'We have not joined the ranks of publications that print speculative stories of strange flying contraptions, nor have we had any polka-dotted strangers from outer space visiting our office. This is for real. A new aircraft configuration with a circular platform is taking shape on the drawing boards of Western aircraft designers that may well be the beginning of a new era of flight.'"

Here's part-1 and here's part-2.