DISCLOSURE / FILE
A 1950 CIA Information Report from Santiago, Chile, forwarding a translated magazine article by German scientist Dr. Eduard Ludwig theorizing that 'Flying Discs' could be a new type of aircraft using Flettner rotors and gas-turbines rather than craft from beyond Earth.
CIA-UAP-005, German Scientist's Article on 'Flying Discs'
A 1950 CIA Information Report from Santiago, Chile, forwarding a translated magazine article by German scientist Dr. Eduard Ludwig theorizing that 'Flying Discs' could be a new type of aircraft using Flettner rotors and gas-turbines rather than craft from beyond Earth.
CIA Information Report SO DB-27143, dated 31 July 1950, acquired in Santiago, Chile, attaches a translated copy of an article submitted by Dr. Eduard Ludwig to the German-language magazine Condor. Ludwig, who says he worked in Professor Junkers's research plant in Dessau, argues that 'Flying Discs' can be explained as aircraft built on aerodynamic boundary-layer principles using rotating cylinders (Flettner rotors) and gas-turbines for lift. He recounts that experiments with a rotating cylinder mounted in a wing killed four pilots and were never solved due to vibrations and axle breakages. The report is explicitly labeled unevaluated information and the source's reliability and content are not graded.
Attached for your in!'cme'1tion ie a copy, in tr<>nslation, oip.1
If one should discard the absurd conjecture that these aircraft originate from beyond this earth, then it is easy to arrive at the conclusion that the shining circles bear a relation to the exe haust of a rotary gas-turbins.p.2
Not less than four men, all experienced and tried pilots of the first World Jar and outstanding engineers, died in these experiments.p.3
It was clear to us that only a gas<turbine could produce the direct uplift of the cylinder.p.3
The. future will show whether the "Flying Discs" are only the prodwts of imagination or whether they are the results of a far-sdvaneced German science which, possibly, as well as the nearly finished atomic bombs, may have fallen into the hands of the Russiang,p.4
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------- ,,, � .,,,... ---· 1�-IAB_L_E--+_RE,_L,_ABLEr_R_E_uA_s_LE_,..R_EL_IA_B_LE_; ·M��Wffi¥B� l,'l!! • · · -·, App�oved for • CLASSIFICATION CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT NO. $0 DD-27U3 D N FO lR MATH) �\Jl R E_PO R:1� CD NO. COUNTRY Chilo/Gorn.any DATE DISTR. 31 July 1950 Release 2026 . .;_,.:._.czo:;.__r; SUBJECT Germtm Scientist I s ,\rticle on "Fl.yin(! Discs" NO, Of PAGES l PLACE NO. OF ENCLS. l ACQUIRED Chile, :',antiago (LISTED BELOW) DATE OF SUPPLEMENT TO INFO. Prior to nid-1950 REPORT NO. , . .. -----------------·---- - GRADING OF SOURCE COLLECTOR'S PRELIMINARY GRADING OF CONTENT, - CANNOT CONFIRMED COMPLOELV USUALL�- FAIRLY �giALLV N� PROBABLY POSSIBLY PROBABLY ICANN.O"f !JE ElE av OTHER I_ DOUBTFUL TRUE _!! R_E1. _1 A _B � TRUE FALSE JUDGED SOURCES JUDGED!!!! IA. ,r R, lC. r:,. E. i: 1, 2. 3. 4. s.!'!'!' 6. ,111s llOClilllEli'i' COilTllli.!G Hll'Ollrl.ll'l'IOII Al'l'l!CTIMC '1�11 llATIOOM. Hl'l!!llS * Docunienta.ey Ol' Till! IJUITED fl"llA'll'!G Wl'/11111 Tlllal D£Al'llt\lO 0£1 THU �IJl'IONAOll ACT 60 o. s. c.. at ,mo 82,118 llliilllnDl?ll), ITS YilAUBlllllilllO:il on 'fllll lll!VllLATlOll THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION 01' l'l'!l cor:rraSTo li'l llf.!'I UMWlllll TO AA UilAUTHClllZl!D fl!rulOil 1$ J'll Ulili?IID fn Lflllf, lilC:PIIODUC'ilOll Cl' 11113 i'Oll!.I Ill PROHllil'llU>. SOURCE ;�S�i¥F�:::� ; _,,,,·· Attached for your in!'cme'1tion ie a copy, in tr<>nslation, oi��' oubmitted t!' J ¼", Edy,n:d LJ'Wlir for publication in QQlldoi:, a Ge�laneuage magazine published in Chile. 'i'he articlo is entit led "T ho lzystery of" the 9 Flyinr5 Discs,' a contribut,ion to its possible explanation" o
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° & 5 STRICTED — so! CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGLNCY S80 DB=27143 “or Attachment 1 ~l- THe MYSTERY OF THE "FLYING DIS¢GS" A contribution to its possible oxplanation. By Dr. “duard Ludwig, Santiago, Chile, Av. Cristobal Colon 1916 Though the continuously reappearing reports on the appearance of new, mystorious aircraft of unimown construction should be considered with severe skepticism as the result of a sort of massehypnosis, nevertheless some of the detailed and coinciding accounts of technically trained observers deserve atten~ tion and permit one to draw conclusions as to the probable classification of these new aircraft. - Since so far the observations have boen made mainly in the dark, which neans that only the luminous parts of the craft are visible, every report brings the description of shining dises or circles, If one should discard the absurd conjecture that these aircraft originate from beyond this earth, then it is easy to arrive at the conclusion that the shining circles bear a relation to the exe haust of a rotary gas-turbins. The possibility exists that the rotor of a tur- bine is used at the same time as a stabilizing top and is therefore fixed . vertically to the level of tho other turbine rings, which in the darlmess pro- auecs the effect of the "rings of Saturn", These observations remind mo of a completely new type of aircraft vhich was Geveloped during tho years I worked in the resoarch plant of Professor Junkers in Dossau, which was attached to the airplane factories Imown all over the world. I do not know how many of my co-workers are still alive today, but I do know that Dr. Bock, Professor at the Technical High School of Berlin, and who was at that time my chief and friend of many years, has been deported to the Soviet Union. The name of Professor Bock was never widely known due to his modest character, but he may have been the greatest genius of German airplane theoretics, and later, . in view of his extraordinary faculties, he was named head constructor of the llinistry of German Airways and Director of the German Inetitute of Airways Research in Berlin-Adlershof. In order to explain to a wider circle of readers the basic idea of the new aim _ raft, I should like to submit first the following explanations: pre k The first Gpryete atjand mathematician who considered the new Seience of Aeroe dynamics after commencement of purely experimental developments of aircraft construction was the Russian Professor Jukowski of Moscow. Before the first World War and together with my esteemed teachor, Dr. Kutta from the Technical High School of Stuttgart, Germany, he developed the theory of airplane-wingbeam. Professor 4 Kutta succeeded in establishing the famous "Differential equation of the/boundary GD stratun} which for the first time throws light on the processes in current particles - eyed and which in any case explains for the first tima theoretically the reason why a planewing can bear a load while moving forward through the air, Since then the "Kutta-Jukowski Theory of Airplane-wingbeam" has been the foundation of all aero~ dynamics. As already mentioned, the core of this work is the so-called "houndary Y cp. Jmebmetean” » Which consists of the thin layer of air in which the transition of ¥ Velocity Zero to the Velocity of the Noving Object takes place, If the object is streamlined ther the boundary stratum will endeavor not to sever, no whirlwinds will eacur, and therefore no loss of energy will take place in that stratum. Since nature always functions most economically, it always tries to avoid loss of energy, and therefore a planewing would rather bear woight than cause a disruption of the course of the current and let the wing drop, The logical conclusions based on these theoretia discoveries were obvious: already in the year 1915 Profeeasor H. C. Bauman, also from the Technical High School of Stuttgart, received a patent on the "Splitwing" through which the artificial interruption ofthe course of the current, the tearing of the boundary stratum and the consequent bralcing and diminishing of the landing speed would be attained. This ‘\ vor? . Ser) es pide. & . Pa acgEncey AK
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‘ ——aaerRieTon a? CENTRAL TWTELLIGENCE AGENCY SO Die27143 Attachment 1 3 me with a positive starting ancle in connection with the enormously high starting speed. The attaching of speedily rotating tops assures side stability. There is also the possibility of attaching horizontal auxiliary propellers of the helicopter type. And what about the question of the starting force? The safety of such an aircraft stands and falls on the starting force of the cylinders, and only too well do I remember the casualties inflicted by the lack of it. As I nentioned before, only the development of a gas=<turbine can bring the solution, since it consists only of rotating parts and works with the dependability of a steam engine. There is only one more question to be answered: could such an aircraft carry enough fuel for world=wide journeys? This question is easily answered in the affirmative. In the first place such an aircraft has a tremendous carrying capacity, as we have already seen; and in the second place chemical research has made astounding developments in this respect, We Imow today=-quite a from atonic energy—sarriers of energy of unsuspected power and duration, [it should he renembered that the missiles of German anti-tank weapons were coated with chemical substances which melted up to 20 omis. of steel plates within fractions of a seconds J anergy carriers of this type, if applicable to q gas=turbine, should make an a€tion-radius possible which far surpasses that of gasoline engines. The. future will show whether the "Flying Discs" are only the prodwts of imagination or whether they are the results of a far-sdvaneced German science which, possibly, as well as the nearly finished atomic bombs, may have fallen into the hands of the Russiang, ee ies & a —REsPRIGRRa—
Concatenated page-by-page transcript. Born-digital pages came through pdf.js; scanned pages were transcribed by Claude vision OCR. Pages marked unreadable failed multiple OCR retries (heavy redaction, microfilm artifacts, or blank separators) and are kept in place for audit.
------- ,,, � .,,,... ---· 1�-IAB_L_E--+_RE,_L,_ABLEr_R_E_uA_s_LE_,..R_EL_IA_B_LE_; ·M��Wffi¥B� l,'l!! • · · -·, App�oved for • CLASSIFICATION CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT NO. $0 DD-27U3 D N FO lR MATH) �\Jl R E_PO R:1� CD NO. COUNTRY Chilo/Gorn.any DATE DISTR. 31 July 1950 Release 2026 . .;_,.:._.czo:;.__r; SUBJECT Germtm Scientist I s ,\rticle on "Fl.yin(! Discs" NO, Of PAGES l PLACE NO. OF ENCLS. l ACQUIRED Chile, :',antiago (LISTED BELOW) DATE OF SUPPLEMENT TO INFO. Prior to nid-1950 REPORT NO. , . .. -----------------·---- - GRADING OF SOURCE COLLECTOR'S PRELIMINARY GRADING OF CONTENT, - CANNOT CONFIRMED COMPLOELV USUALL�- FAIRLY �giALLV N� PROBABLY POSSIBLY PROBABLY ICANN.O"f !JE ElE av OTHER I_ DOUBTFUL TRUE _!! R_E1. _1 A _B � TRUE FALSE JUDGED SOURCES JUDGED!!!! IA. ,r R, lC. r:,. E. i: 1, 2. 3. 4. s.!'!'!' 6. ,111s llOClilllEli'i' COilTllli.!G Hll'Ollrl.ll'l'IOII Al'l'l!CTIMC '1�11 llATIOOM. Hl'l!!llS * Docunienta.ey Ol' Till! IJUITED fl"llA'll'!G Wl'/11111 Tlllal D£Al'llt\lO 0£1 THU �IJl'IONAOll ACT 60 o. s. c.. at ,mo 82,118 llliilllnDl?ll), ITS YilAUBlllllilllO:il on 'fllll lll!VllLATlOll THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION 01' l'l'!l cor:rraSTo li'l llf.!'I UMWlllll TO AA UilAUTHClllZl!D fl!rulOil 1$ J'll Ulili?IID fn Lflllf, lilC:PIIODUC'ilOll Cl' 11113 i'Oll!.I Ill PROHllil'llU>. SOURCE ;�S�i¥F�:::� ; _,,,,·· Attached for your in!'cme'1tion ie a copy, in tr<>nslation, oi��' oubmitted t!' J ¼", Edy,n:d LJ'Wlir for publication in QQlldoi:, a Ge�laneuage magazine published in Chile. 'i'he articlo is entit led "T ho lzystery of" the 9 Flyinr5 Discs,' a contribut,ion to its possible explanation" o
° & 5 STRICTED — so! CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGLNCY S80 DB=27143 “or Attachment 1 ~l- THe MYSTERY OF THE "FLYING DIS¢GS" A contribution to its possible oxplanation. By Dr. “duard Ludwig, Santiago, Chile, Av. Cristobal Colon 1916 Though the continuously reappearing reports on the appearance of new, mystorious aircraft of unimown construction should be considered with severe skepticism as the result of a sort of massehypnosis, nevertheless some of the detailed and coinciding accounts of technically trained observers deserve atten~ tion and permit one to draw conclusions as to the probable classification of these new aircraft. - Since so far the observations have boen made mainly in the dark, which neans that only the luminous parts of the craft are visible, every report brings the description of shining dises or circles, If one should discard the absurd conjecture that these aircraft originate from beyond this earth, then it is easy to arrive at the conclusion that the shining circles bear a relation to the exe haust of a rotary gas-turbins. The possibility exists that the rotor of a tur- bine is used at the same time as a stabilizing top and is therefore fixed . vertically to the level of tho other turbine rings, which in the darlmess pro- auecs the effect of the "rings of Saturn", These observations remind mo of a completely new type of aircraft vhich was Geveloped during tho years I worked in the resoarch plant of Professor Junkers in Dossau, which was attached to the airplane factories Imown all over the world. I do not know how many of my co-workers are still alive today, but I do know that Dr. Bock, Professor at the Technical High School of Berlin, and who was at that time my chief and friend of many years, has been deported to the Soviet Union. The name of Professor Bock was never widely known due to his modest character, but he may have been the greatest genius of German airplane theoretics, and later, . in view of his extraordinary faculties, he was named head constructor of the llinistry of German Airways and Director of the German Inetitute of Airways Research in Berlin-Adlershof. In order to explain to a wider circle of readers the basic idea of the new aim _ raft, I should like to submit first the following explanations: pre k The first Gpryete atjand mathematician who considered the new Seience of Aeroe dynamics after commencement of purely experimental developments of aircraft construction was the Russian Professor Jukowski of Moscow. Before the first World War and together with my esteemed teachor, Dr. Kutta from the Technical High School of Stuttgart, Germany, he developed the theory of airplane-wingbeam. Professor 4 Kutta succeeded in establishing the famous "Differential equation of the/boundary GD stratun} which for the first time throws light on the processes in current particles - eyed and which in any case explains for the first tima theoretically the reason why a planewing can bear a load while moving forward through the air, Since then the "Kutta-Jukowski Theory of Airplane-wingbeam" has been the foundation of all aero~ dynamics. As already mentioned, the core of this work is the so-called "houndary Y cp. Jmebmetean” » Which consists of the thin layer of air in which the transition of ¥ Velocity Zero to the Velocity of the Noving Object takes place, If the object is streamlined ther the boundary stratum will endeavor not to sever, no whirlwinds will eacur, and therefore no loss of energy will take place in that stratum. Since nature always functions most economically, it always tries to avoid loss of energy, and therefore a planewing would rather bear woight than cause a disruption of the course of the current and let the wing drop, The logical conclusions based on these theoretia discoveries were obvious: already in the year 1915 Profeeasor H. C. Bauman, also from the Technical High School of Stuttgart, received a patent on the "Splitwing" through which the artificial interruption ofthe course of the current, the tearing of the boundary stratum and the consequent bralcing and diminishing of the landing speed would be attained. This ‘\ vor? . Ser) es pide. & . Pa acgEncey AK
a CENTRAL INTELLIGCUCE AGENCY SO DBe27143
od Attachment 1
Qe
procedure was later applied to a preat extent to the fighter plane luster Ju, 38 ©
under the name of "dive~brake". This patent had to % handed to the Unglish
factory Wandley-Page after World War I, which explains that the name of "landley-
Page Splitwing" is more widely known.
However, developments proceeded. It was principally the Aerodynanic Dx~
perimental Institute of the Gottingen University, directed by the renowned
Professors Prandtl and Betz, and Constructor Flettner, which drew its conclusions
from the theory of the airplano-wing-beanm. Filettner proved that the conditions
of a rotating object are similar to those which appear in a "translatorischen"
movement. Thus evolved the "Flottner-Rotor",
Professor Junkers, head of the well know airplane works in Dessau, who in
the year 1915 received his pathbreaking patent on the one=piece metal wing without
junctures, ordered a research group, which was headed by Professor Dr. Bock, and
to which I had the honor to belong, to investigate to what extent the uplift of a
wing could be increased through the attachment of a FlettnemRotor in the shape of
a cylinder turning at great speed. The cylinder was twoethirds of the length of
the wing and was installed in the nose of the wine, where it could best be adapted
to the wing's profile. To assist us with asrodynamic problems, the Gottingen
University sent us Professor Prandtl. The experiments turned out to be extremely
difficult and involved many casualties. The purely technical question of the
speedy uplift of a leng cylinder of lisht construction could not be solved at that
time. Inexplicable vibrations and axle breakages occurred time after time which
Professor Junkers ordered us to investigate, and with which we were occupied for wonths
Not less than four men, all experienced and tried pilots of the first World Jar and
outstanding engineers, died in these experiments. It was clear to us that only a
gas<turbine could produce the direct uplift of the cylinder. However, since mean-
while more pressing problems awaited solution, experiments with this type of aire
craft were interrupted.
. leanuhile the \erodynamic Experimental Institute of Gottingen made new and
enlightening discoveries. Professor Botz found that supersonic speeds, such as
are produced by quickly rotating propellers, created entirely new conditions.
‘ This investigation, however, neoded the furnishing of a wind tunnel for supersonic
speeds which could only be built many years later, and which after the war was
forwarded to the United States where it sreatly amazed all scientists.
Now light was shed on many things. It was found that the tearing of the
boundary stratum at supersonic speeds involved much greater resistance, so that
an object with full atmospheric pressure practically "hangs" from the upper layer
of air, and theoretically experisnces there the same uplift as an object of the
same surface in the water, The converting of the revelations found in research
into reality, however, needed the solution of the starting force through a fase
turbine or another equivalent machine or instrument. ne
ape
Iany heretofore unexplained phenomena now gee an te daation. For example
it had often been observed that the range of q rotating missiles ("Drall-
wirkung") was much greater than could be explained according to the lays of
ballistics. Paradoxical explanations were sourht for thia such as that the air
resistance decreases with growing speeds. Today we lmow that these quickly rotating
lissiles "swim" in the surrounding layers of air and therefore lose part of their
weight. Full glarification was brought about only with supersonic speeds, which
. were obtained in the experiments with rockets (V-2) and were arrived at by flights
of many hundreds and thousands of kilometers, and which can only be explained by
the way in which these missiles literally "hang" in the air. The surprise of the
specialized scientists the world over at the astounding results of the German V=2
was not less than that which is produced today by the appearance of the mysterious
"Flying Dises".
In the same way in which the ingenious discernment of Professor Junkers
pointed the way for airplane construction for the whole world, thus also may his
idea of attachinc Flettner Rotors have a revolutionary effect. ‘irplanes of this —
type must have such an enormous carrying capacity as to be practically comparable
to amphibious planes of the same sizo. The lack of uplift produced by the Flettner
. Retors can easily be achieved through the oblique position of the entire airplane
ary A‘ ——aaerRieTon a? CENTRAL TWTELLIGENCE AGENCY SO Die27143 Attachment 1 3 me with a positive starting ancle in connection with the enormously high starting speed. The attaching of speedily rotating tops assures side stability. There is also the possibility of attaching horizontal auxiliary propellers of the helicopter type. And what about the question of the starting force? The safety of such an aircraft stands and falls on the starting force of the cylinders, and only too well do I remember the casualties inflicted by the lack of it. As I nentioned before, only the development of a gas=<turbine can bring the solution, since it consists only of rotating parts and works with the dependability of a steam engine. There is only one more question to be answered: could such an aircraft carry enough fuel for world=wide journeys? This question is easily answered in the affirmative. In the first place such an aircraft has a tremendous carrying capacity, as we have already seen; and in the second place chemical research has made astounding developments in this respect, We Imow today=-quite a from atonic energy—sarriers of energy of unsuspected power and duration, [it should he renembered that the missiles of German anti-tank weapons were coated with chemical substances which melted up to 20 omis. of steel plates within fractions of a seconds J anergy carriers of this type, if applicable to q gas=turbine, should make an a€tion-radius possible which far surpasses that of gasoline engines. The. future will show whether the "Flying Discs" are only the prodwts of imagination or whether they are the results of a far-sdvaneced German science which, possibly, as well as the nearly finished atomic bombs, may have fallen into the hands of the Russiang, ee ies & a —REsPRIGRRa—