The case for U.S. built flying wing disc aircraft (aka flying saucers)

begins with an unprecedented true account by Mr. Jack D. Pickett (retired WWII combat veteran and publisher). During the 1960's, and on into 1972, Jack Pickett and his business associate Harold Baker published for the Air Force certain house-organ magazines (club-calendar-events) for NCO and Officer's Club facilities for several military bases in Florida. It was 1967 when the Adjutant General's Office at MacDill AFB (Tampa Florida) proposed a front cover, and two-and-a-half page article within. The subject was Vintage, Historical or Experimental aircraft.

Jack and Harold learned that some experimental jet aircraft were being stored at the base salvage/scrap-yard.

These particular aircraft had already been decommissioned/declassified, and were parked directly outside, and NOT in a hangar.

In September of 1967, both Jack and Harold drove together to where these aircraft were being parked.

Upon arriving at the chain link fence, which surrounded the perimeter of the base near the scrap-yard,

Jack first saw the most awe-inspiring aircraft ever built. Jack's initial thought was: "My gosh! Those are Flying Saucers! Those things really do exist!". There, in outside parked storage, were four flying wing discs, measuring 20 to 108 feet in diameter.

Because they were the last remaining of their model, the Master Sergeant of the Non-Commissioned Officer's Club telephoned the Adjutant General's Office for permission for polaroid photographs to be taken, even though all of the tires were completely flat down to their wheel rims. The General's Office (headed by base commander William M. Wilson) suggested that Jack use higher quality official Air Force photographs available at the Adjutant General's library at MacDill. Under armed guard, Jack was personally shown literally hundreds of official U.S.A.F. photographs of these aircraft in formation flight, on the tarmac, and was shown portions of motion picture footage of these aircraft in flight. Jack was allowed to select those photographs best suited for the up-coming NCO Club newsletter article, and obtain additional detailed information concerning the discs. It's important to note, that these four aircraft are NOT to be confused with the well known Avro VZ-9 Avrocar, Chance Vought V-173 "Flying Pancake", Project Silverbug, or the Chance Vought XF5U-1.

DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DISCS: When Jack first saw the official USAF photos of these aircraft, he was amazed, and immediately asked questions regarding how large, and how many of these aircraft were built. Jack also inquired about the flight performance (altitude and cruise speed) for these aircraft. Some of the in-flight photos clearly showed the discs being escorted by an F-84 Thunderjet (straight-wing) interceptor aircraft. Looking head on, they appeared as the classic so-called "Flying Saucer" shape, very similar to two saucers stacked one over the other. The pilot/crew compartment appearing as a bubble shaped contour located directly in the middle of the top of the disc. There was nothing forward of the pilot's compartment other than the sloping surface. That compartment tapered back towards the trailing edge of the disc, narrowing down to a high vertical tail. The small 20' diameter craft had a crew of one, with an air-intake on both sides of the pilot's compartment, and two exhaust ports at the aft lower portion of the disc. This aircraft also employed control surfaces along the circumference of the disc. According to Jack, the smaller disc seemed to incorporate a sort of magnifying/enlarging optical sight, which was directly embedded into the 1-1/2 to 2" thick canopy windows. The standard Air Force insignia, and the word "XPERIMENTAL" followed by "USAF", was visibly printed starting immediately behind the windows of the compartment on towards the tail. All four discs were polished aluminum silver in color, with the aircraft skin seams and rivets clearly visible. Amazingly, each aircraft was so exceedingly streamlined that it appeared as though each craft were made out of one piece. The discs themselves, regardless of size, all had tricycle landing gear. The size of the aircraft, determined how many wheels on each. According to the O.I.C. (Officer in charge) of MacDill, all four aircraft had been flown in, and then immediately parked outside at the scrap-yard. The O.I.C. also informed Jack that not one person had ever been allowed to enter any of the discs since they arrived. Measuring 108 feet in diameter, and standing 12' off of the ground, the largest of the four discs must have been a sight to behold. The O.I.C. permitted Jack to walk under and around this aircraft, and was actually allowed to kick the tires of the smaller 40' craft, while the O.I.C. stood nearby and snapped a photo in the process. Jack specifically noted that the port main landing gear was partially collapsed, causing the aircraft to lean to the left. Each main landing gear consisted of 6 wheels, measuring 5' in diameter. The nose gear had an incredible 32 wheels, each measuring 2-1/2 to 3 feet in diameter. A door was located on the port side of the craft, for access to the crew compartment. Immediately behind the door, were three windows that ran along both sides of the fuselage. These may have been stations for the flight engineer, navigator, and weapon systems operator. The large craft employed two air-intakes on both sides of the crew compartment, and four exhaust ports at the aft bottom end of the craft. The air intakes blended beautifully into the sides of the fuselage and upper portion of the disc. Jack specifically recalls that the unusually high vertical stabilizer was "higher than shopping mall parking lot lights". It was evident that the landing gear retracted inside the main body of the disc, with the gear moving up and away from the centerline of the aircraft. Flight control surfaces were located along the circumference of the disc, similar to the 20' model. Jack remembers seeing what may have been bomb bay doors located on the bottom surface of the disc. These may have been used for the release of 10' diameter in-flight radio controlled flying wing disc bomb drones. Indeed, Jack remembers seeing flying wing disc drones in various stages of disrepair at the scrap-yard, near the four discs. These bombs were capable of being delivered with "pin-point" accuracy decades before Lockheed F-117 Stealth Fighters dropped "smart bombs" on Iraq during the Gulf War. This indicates that the primary mission for this aircraft may have been that of a long range reconnaissance bomber. Jack was told that this aircraft regularly over-flew Russia after WWII, but was told: "you can't print that".Fortunately, the story doesn't end in 1967. Jack was informed that the four discs parked at the scrap area were the very last of their kind, and were awaiting orders to either be scrapped, or flown/transported to Offutt AFB for storage for the yet-to-be-completed Air Force Museum. This brings us to Mr. Warren Botz (retired WWII P-40 Warhawk Flying Tigers pilot) who in 1978 was attending a reunion with his fellow pilots at Wright Patterson AFB. A small group including Warren, were transported by bus across the base to where the restoration hangar is located. It's here that various older aircraft are processed, and made ready for the Air Force Museum. Warren momentarily departed from his group, and managed to walk into a restricted hangar adjacent to the restoration facility. Taking up the entire hangar, was the identical craft Jack Pickett saw at MacDill AFB in 1967. Through telephone conversations with Mr. Botz, it became apparent that what he saw was one of the smaller 70' diameter craft. Warren was only in this hangar for about two minutes, but was able to confirm many of the details mentioned by Jack Pickett 12 years earlier. Mr Botz clearly remembers seeing the tricycle landing gear, along with the very high vertical tail. In fact, after seeing the illustrations used for this article, Warren declared: "that's the exact aircraft I saw at Wright Patterson AFB". The time has come for the U.S.A.F. to fully declassify and release into public domain, the technical details, photos, and motion picture/newsreel footage pertaining to these specific aircraft. Any potential threat to National Security has now been far out-weighed by the economic and environmental benefits derived from the propulsion systems employed on these aircraft. Indeed, we can no longer as a civilization, go on using obsolete solid and liquid rockets to achieve space flight. There is a "better way" to access space. It's now time for the military industrial complex, and the highest level of U.S. leadership to finally admit that "the game is up", and that the American people, and the world, demand a full disclosure regarding highly classified aerospace vehicles and propulsion systems. Only then, can we all take our rightful place among the stars, and fully reach our potential to discover new worlds, just over the horizon.