Rejected and ignored, the Discopter seemed destined to fade away.
Then came 1947.
The first highly publicized sighting of an unidentified flying object came on June 24 of that year when private pilot Kenneth Arnold claimed he spotted a string of nine shiny objects flying past Washington’s Mt. Rainier at speeds he clocked at 1,200 miles per hour. Although Arnold never specifically used the term “flying saucer,” he was quoted at the time saying the shape of the objects he saw was like a “saucer,” “disc,” or “pie plate.” Arnold described them as a series of objects with convex shapes, though he later revealed that one object differed by being crescent-shaped.
Newsweek was the first magazine to report a saucer outbreak. On July 14, 1947, …show more content…
The next morning, Herald reporter Ritch Lovejoy received a phone call from a Carmel Valley man who spoke in a voice chopped with a Dutch accent.
“Twenty-seven years ago,” the man said. “I began working on an invention that makes the flying platform look like a Model T.”
Weygers invited Lovejoy to his property, where for the first time he revealed to the media his vision for the Discopter. On April 13, the Herald splashed Weygers’ Embarcadero drawing across its front page beneath a banner headline that read, “Carmel Valley Artist Patented Flying Saucer Five Years Ago: Discopter Patented in 1945; May Be in …show more content…
An Italian newspaper wrote of Weygers’ “City in the Air.” Stateside, a front-page story in the Idaho State Journal expressed skepticism over Weygers’ claims:
Weygers said his flying disc, which he calls a ‘Discopter,’ was patented (two) years before the first flying saucer report came out of the Northwest. Weygers, a Dutch-born engineer and sculptor, admits his saucer is still in the paper-design stage. He has never made a model of it. But the design, he insists, is aeronautically sound.
Blueprints show a craft that resembles a percolator top or a covered shallow bowl with a bubble on top. The bubble would be the pilot's compartment, which Weygers said could be enlarged for "unlimited passengers." Enclosed in the circular metal frame or rim are gasoline engine-driven rotor blades, similar to the rotors of a helicopter. The push of the rotor would propel Weygers' craft just like the helicopter. The rotors and power-plant compartments are enclosed in the Discopter, the designer said. The craft has holes on its top through which air is drawn by the rotors, giving it the needed thrust out of the bottom expulsion holes. Weygers said he believes jets can be used in place of the
Then came 1947.
The first highly publicized sighting of an unidentified flying object came on June 24 of that year when private pilot Kenneth Arnold claimed he spotted a string of nine shiny objects flying past Washington’s Mt. Rainier at speeds he clocked at 1,200 miles per hour. Although Arnold never specifically used the term “flying saucer,” he was quoted at the time saying the shape of the objects he saw was like a “saucer,” “disc,” or “pie plate.” Arnold described them as a series of objects with convex shapes, though he later revealed that one object differed by being crescent-shaped.
Newsweek was the first magazine to report a saucer outbreak. On July 14, 1947, …show more content…
The next morning, Herald reporter Ritch Lovejoy received a phone call from a Carmel Valley man who spoke in a voice chopped with a Dutch accent.
“Twenty-seven years ago,” the man said. “I began working on an invention that makes the flying platform look like a Model T.”
Weygers invited Lovejoy to his property, where for the first time he revealed to the media his vision for the Discopter. On April 13, the Herald splashed Weygers’ Embarcadero drawing across its front page beneath a banner headline that read, “Carmel Valley Artist Patented Flying Saucer Five Years Ago: Discopter Patented in 1945; May Be in …show more content…
An Italian newspaper wrote of Weygers’ “City in the Air.” Stateside, a front-page story in the Idaho State Journal expressed skepticism over Weygers’ claims:
Weygers said his flying disc, which he calls a ‘Discopter,’ was patented (two) years before the first flying saucer report came out of the Northwest. Weygers, a Dutch-born engineer and sculptor, admits his saucer is still in the paper-design stage. He has never made a model of it. But the design, he insists, is aeronautically sound.
Blueprints show a craft that resembles a percolator top or a covered shallow bowl with a bubble on top. The bubble would be the pilot's compartment, which Weygers said could be enlarged for "unlimited passengers." Enclosed in the circular metal frame or rim are gasoline engine-driven rotor blades, similar to the rotors of a helicopter. The push of the rotor would propel Weygers' craft just like the helicopter. The rotors and power-plant compartments are enclosed in the Discopter, the designer said. The craft has holes on its top through which air is drawn by the rotors, giving it the needed thrust out of the bottom expulsion holes. Weygers said he believes jets can be used in place of the