Flying Flapjack (V-173), the first flying saucer
O Flying Flapjack It was the first flying saucer in the world. Made to revolutionize the technology of World War II. Only it has not arrived in time. Thanks to this, it was forgotten. But there was no technological waste. Now the VTOL thank you.
Em 1930, Charles H. Zimmerman (1908-1996) took the electrical engineering and aircraft design courses at the University of Kansas (USA).
Zimmerman had a remarkable aptitude for creating airplanes and joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (Naca) and Chance Voght Aircraft.
One thing that aroused particular interest was the idea of disk aircraft – what is most popularly known as flying records.
As it remembers, the circular wings flying machines were initially thought by the Swedish scientist and philosopher Emanuel Swedenborgwhich projected an elliptical ship in 1714. However, this project never crossed the design phase.
Zimmerman, who always dreamed of building a circular wing plane materialized the idea of Swedenborg; Thanks to a gift from the Navy.
After a series of internally failed attempts, US defense granted Vought a contract to build a full -size flying prototype, designated Vought V-173 – Popularized as Flying Flapjack.
The goal was to create a new combat plane, with high-speed potential that was suitable for aircraft-based operations.
It was such a bold idea that the whole project was considered ultrassecreto. Thanks to the secrecy around this plane, flying flapjack sightings produced a series of UFO sighting reports.
The inaugural flight of the V-173 was made to November 23, 1942.
The V-173 was impressive with its 7.1 meter wide wing/fuselage built in wood and fabric, and a 1,211 kg hull; reaching a maximum speed in the air of 222 km/he is a autonomy of 322 km.
As the New Atlas details between 1942 and 1943, the V-173 flew 190 times.
As a “weapon of war,” the V-173 had the ability to make tight curves thanks to a circular wing that made him ultra-manobrable. In other “fronts”, it could also be extraordinarily stable and controllable.
Flying Flapjack (V-173), the first flying saucer
But the US needed more
Although the V-173 was very promising, it was not truly a war fighter that the US needed.
Therefore, in 1944, the navy ordered the Vought XF5U Flying Flapjack -An improved version of the V-173, designed to be a real combat plane.
The XF5U had the same circular and low -likely -related structure as its predecessor, but it was larger, stronger and more advanced performance.
The last Flapjack flying, with a 9.85 meter -only wingspan, could carry cannons, bombs or launch tanks.
Although the XF5U never made big flights (only in small tests), the estimated maximum speed was 684 and 885 km/hwith a range of about 1,600 km.
War is over (with the dream of the flying saucer)
But XF5U never came to be ready for II World War. And the end of the war also dictated the end of efforts to finish this revolutionary plane.
In 1947, only one prototype was completed, but the project continued to have problems. This has aroused flight security concerns and, as New Atlas tells, the plan has been transferring the Connecticut project to the Edward Air Force base in California.
However, the plane was too wide to be transported by road and could not be dismantled. Since the alternative was to send it to California through the Panama Canal, (and since the plane didn’t even have the opportunity) Idea was fell apart. The project was canceled on March 17, 1947.
As New Atlas writes for such a strange plane, FLUPJACK flying had an equally strange end. If I had been ready a few years earlier, it could have revolutionized the Air War in World War II.
At the time, the navy chiefs panicked. There was a great postwar pressure to drastically cut military expenses. The only prototype XF5U was sent to destroy without ceremonies.
The V-173 was unsuccessful. The construction of his wings was so strong that the Navy could not destroy it. However, the flying saucer was eventually donated to the Smithsonian Institute and is currently on display at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas, Texas.
V-173, no Museu Frontiers of Flight
Despite this outcome, There was no technological waste. Visionary Zimmerman continued to work in a series of aircraft concepts – which nowadays allow the existence of VTOL and Stol revolutionaries.
