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This WWII Plane Looks Suspiciously Like a UFO
Could this plane have helped spark UFO madness?
For decades, people have spoken in hushed tones and in reverent awe of metallic flying disks. Aliens, they say, as though the idea that humans could create metallic flying disks of their own is a foreign one. A flying disk made by human hands? Impossible! It turns out that extraterrestrials are not the only ones capable of imagining flying disks.
In the 1930s, aircraft designer Charles Zimmerman imagined a “discoidal” aircraft that the theorized could achieve near vertical take off and landings. He worked for years developing prototypes and models in hopes of catching the eye of military engineers. In an era where aircraft carriers were flexing their muscle as the latest and greatest weapon platform, interest in experimental aircraft hit an all time high. The US Navy contacted Zimmerman in 1939 and agreed to provide funding to test his discoidal aircraft. Zimmerman hoped that his craft would be able to take off from a carrier and provide additional capabilities to the Navy.
The result was the Vought V-173, one of a number of prototypes tested by the Navy during the 1940s. The Vought V-173 was a unique “all-wing” design that was affectionately dubbed the Flying Pancake due to its shape. Despite the initial hope that the plane could…
