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• 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. 
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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 entitled "Tho lzystery of" the 
9 Flyinr5 Discs,' a contribut,ion to its possible explanation" o 

W RIO TIiD
CEN TRAL IN TELLIGEN CE AGEN CY SO DB-27143
Attachment 1
THE M YSTERY O F THE "FLYIN G DISCS"
A contribution to its possible explanation.
By Dr. Eduard Ludwig, Santiago, Chilo.
Av. Cristobal Colon 1916
Though the continuously reappearing reports on the appearance of new, 
mysterious aircraft of unknown construction should be considered with severe 
skepticism as the result of a sort of mass-hypnosis, 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 been made mainly in the dark, which 
means that only the luminous parts of the craft are visible, every report brings 
the description of shining discs 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 ex­
haust of a rotary gas-turbine. 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 the other turbine rings, which in the darkness pro­
duces the effect of the "rings of Saturn".
These observations remind mo of a completely now type of aircraft which was 
developed during the years I worked in the research plant of Professor Junkers 
in Dossau, which was attached to the airplane factories known 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 N igh 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 M inistry 
of German Airways and Director of the German Institute of Airways Research in 
Berlin-Adlershof.
In order to explain to a wider circle of readers the basic idea of the new air­
craft, I should like to submit first the following explanations:
//-r tf,.{^ i 4£etU < C J.& < J,tA ^ -> c*2a-C i4f-a^J ~ £'£j4‘'C -< -~ i-£ ' /JEv/jx!
i/A‘ 1 I The first {physiclaxQ  and mathematician who considered the new Science of Aero­
dynamics after the commencement of purely experimental developments of aircraft 
construction was the Russian Professor Jukowski of M oscow. Before the first W orld 
W ar and together with my esteemed teacher, Dr. K utta from the Technical High School 
of Stuttgart, Germany, he developed the theory of airplane—wingbeam. Professor 
iy K utta succeeded in establishing the famous "Differential equation of the/boundary
z^^-*^w strati^ which for the first time throws light on the processes in current particles 
v^^a^ anc] which in any case explains for the first time theoretically the reason why a
planewing can bear a load while moving forward through the air. Since then the 
"K utta-Jukouski Theory of Airplane-wingbeam" has been the foundation of all aero-
. dynamics. As already mentioned, the core of this work is the so-called "boundary 
K ^q^V —etsetum", which consists of the thin layer of air in which the transition of
" Velocity Zero to the Velocity of the M oving O bject takes place. If the object is 
streamlined then the boundary stratum will endeavor not to sever, no whirlwinds will 
occur, 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 £ planowing would rather bear weight than cause a disruption of ths 
course of the current and let the wing drop.
The logical conclusions based on these theoretic discoveries were obvious: 
already in the year 1915 Professor H. C. Bauman, also from the Technical High School 
of Stuttgart, received a patent on the "Splitwing" through which the artificial 
interruption of-the course of the current, the tearing of the boundary stratum and 
the consequent broking and diminishing of the landing speed would be attained. This
A ^-Vvy»^ A -i8 "R E ST R IC T S
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Attachment 1
procedure was later applied to a great extent to the fighter plane duster Ju. 88 
under the name of "dive-brake”. This patent had to be handed to the English 
factory Handley-Page after W orld W ar I, which explains that the name of "Handley- 
Page .Splitwing" is more widely known.
However, developments proceeded. It was principally the Aerodynamic Ex­
perimental Institute of the Gottingen University, directed by the renowned 
Professors Prandtl and Beta, and Constructor Plettner, which drew its conclusions 
from the theory of the airplane-wing—bean. Plettner proved that the conditions 
of a rotating object are similar to those which appear in a "translatorischen" 
movement. Thus evolved the "Plettnsr-Rotor".
Professor Junkers, head of the well known 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 Flettner-Rotor in the shape of 
a cylinder turning at great speed. The cylinder was two-thirds of the length of 
the wing and was installed in the nose of the wing, where it could best be adapted 
to the wing’s profile. To assist us with aerodynamic 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 long cylinder of light 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 months 
N ot less than four men, all experienced and tried pilots of the first W orld Ear 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 air­
craft were interrupted.
I-feanwhile the Aerodynamic Experimental Institute of Gottingen made new and 
enlightening discoveries. Professor Betz found that supersonic speeds, such as 
are produced by quickly rotating propellers, created entirely new conditions. 
This investigation, however, needed 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 greatly amazed all scientists.
N ow 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 experiences 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 gas­
turbine or another equivalent machine or instrument.
M any heretofore unexplained phenomena now fojalu an 
it had often been observed that the range of qudfscly rotating missiles ("Drall- 
wirkung") was much greater than could be explained according to the laws of 
ballistics. Paradoxical explanations were sought for this such as that the air 
resistance decreases with growing speeds. Today we know that these quickly rotating 
missiles "swim" in the surrounding layers of air and therefore lose part of their 
weight. Full clarification 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 tlie astounding results of the German V-2 
ms not less than that which is produced today by the appearance of the mysterious 
"Flying Discs".
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 attaching Plettner Rotors have a revolutionary effect, Airplanes of this 
type must have such on enormous carrying capacity as to be practically comparable 
to amphibious pianos of the same size. The lack of uplift produced by the Plettner 
Rotors can easily bo achieved through the oblique position of the entire airplane
f^ l
explanation. For example
M ^  » "


M TRICTE IT
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Attachment 1
•3-
with a positive starting angle 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 
mentioned 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. W e know today—quite apart from 
atomic energy—carriers of energy of unsuspected power and duration, (it should I® 
remembered that the missiles of German anti-tank weapons were coated with chemical 
substances which melted up to 20 omts. of steel plates within fractions of a 
second 7~JEnergy carriers of this type, if applicable to a gas-turbine, should make 
an at^xon-radius possible which far surpasses that of gasoline engines.
The future will show whether the "Flying Discs" are only the products of 
imagination or whether they are the results of a far-advanced Gereon science which, 
possibly, as well as the nearly finished atomic bombs, nay have fallen into the 
hands of the Russians.
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