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The Avro-Car was (depending on the source of the information) 18 or 25 feet in diameter, and weighed 3600 lb. It was powered by three centrally mounted gas turbine engines driving a 5 feet diam. central fan used for vertical takeoff. Once in the air the turbo-jet exhaust would be shifted to the rear giving the vehicle forward thrust to allow the aerodynamic body to generate lift.
A.V. Roe (Avro) Aircraft Limited (later Avro Canada) based its design concept for the Avrocar on using the exhaust from turbojet engines to drive a circular "turborotor" which produced thrust. By directing this thrust downward, the turborotor would create a cushion of air (also known as "ground effect") upon which the aircraft would float at low altitude. When the thrust was directed toward the rear, the aircraft would accelerate and gain altitude.
TECHNICAL NOTES:
Crew: Two
Engines: Three Continental J69-T9 turbojets of 927 lbs. thrust each
Wingspan: 18 ft.
Height: 4 ft. 10 in.
Weight: 4,620 lbs. empty
Originally posted by redbarron626
This story has been around for a while now. This is an LRV Lenticular Re-Entry Vehicle used by the USAF for recon and spy missions. It was designed to go into low earth orbit and rain down nuclear destruction. There are several sizes of these from 40 feet to over 100 feet in diameter that were flown out of Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio and at Kirtland AFB in New Mexico. Undoubtedly these are the responsible for many flying saucer sightings throughout the 60's and 70's.
Originally posted by Zaphod58
All of the pictures are fake. I'm not sure what the second one was, but the one with the F-86 taking off, was I believe a pair of F-86s in formation.
THEY DO EXIST: Jack and Harold learned that some experimental jet aircraft were being stored at the base salvage/scrap-yard. These particular aircraft had already been decommissioned/declassified, and were parked directly outside, and NOT in a hangar. In September of 1967, both Jack and Harold drove together to where these aircraft were being parked. Upon arriving at the chain link fence, which surrounded the perimeter of the base near the scrap-yard, Jack first saw the most awe-inspiring aircraft ever built. Jack's initial thought was: "My gosh! Those are Flying Saucers! Those things really do exist!". There, in outside parked storage, were four flying wing discs, measuring 20 to 108 feet in diameter. Because they were the last remaining of their model, the Master Sergeant of the Non-Commissioned Officer's Club telephoned the Adjutant General's Office for permission for polaroid photographs to be taken, even though all of the tires were completely flat down to their wheel rims. The General's Office (headed by base commander William M. Wilson) suggested that Jack use higher quality official Air Force photographs available at the Adjutant General's library at MacDill. Under armed guard, Jack was personally shown literally hundreds of official U.S.A.F. photographs of these aircraft in formation flight, on the tarmac, and was shown portions of motion picture footage of these aircraft in flight. Jack was allowed to select those photographs best suited for the up-coming NCO Club newsletter article, and obtain additional detailed information concerning the discs. It's important to note, that these four aircraft are NOT to be confused with the well known Avro VZ-9 Avrocar, Chance Vought V-173 "Flying Pancake", Project Silverbug, or the Chance Vought XF5U-1.
THE LARGE DISC: Measuring 108 feet in diameter, and standing 12' off of the ground, the largest of the four discs must have been a sight to behold. The O.I.C. permitted Jack to walk under and around this aircraft, and was actually allowed to kick the tires of the smaller 40' craft, while the O.I.C. stood nearby and snapped a photo in the process. Jack specifically noted that the port main landing gear was partially collapsed, causing the aircraft to lean to the left. Each main landing gear consisted of 6 wheels, measuring 5' in diameter. The nose gear had an incredible 32 wheels, each measuring 2-1/2 to 3 feet in diameter. A door was located on the port side of the craft, for access to the crew compartment. Immediately behind the door, were three windows that ran along both sides of the fuselage. These may have been stations for the flight engineer, navigator, and weapon systems operator. The large craft employed two air-intakes on both sides of the crew compartment, and four exhaust ports at the aft bottom end of the craft. The air intakes blended beautifully into the sides of the fuselage and upper portion of the disc. Jack specifically recalls that the unusually high vertical stabilizer was "higher than shopping mall parking lot lights". It was evident that the landing gear retracted inside the main body of the disc, with the gear moving up and away from the centerline of the aircraft. Flight control surfaces were located along the circumference of the disc, similar to the 20' model. Jack remembers seeing what may have been bomb bay doors located on the bottom surface of the disc. These may have been used for the release of 10' diameter in-flight radio controlled flying wing disc bomb drones. Indeed, Jack remembers seeing flying wing disc drones in various stages of disrepair at the scrap-yard, near the four discs. These bombs were capable of being delivered with "pin-point" accuracy decades before Lockheed F-117 Stealth Fighters dropped "smart bombs" on Iraq during the Gulf War. This indicates that the primary mission for this aircraft may have been that of a long range reconnaissance bomber. Jack was told that this aircraft regularly over-flew Russia after WWII, but was told: "you can't print that".