Last month, the National Archives created their UAP archive. While sifting through these, I found an interesting video dated August 22, 1949.
Link to the video: Universal Newsreel Volume 22, Release 276
The relevant clip is right at the start of the video, with the title screen “FLYING SAUCER – Air Force Uncovers Model Mystery Ship”. It has two segments. The first is a clearly staged clip shows USAF members “finding” some parts in an old tobacco shed, which just look like round metal rings and pieces of wood. The second shows more USAF members in a field, examining the wreckage of a round white craft. The implication is that these are related but there is nothing to indicate they’re even in the same vicinity.
The release notes for the relevant section read:
“FLYING SAUCER” FOUND: GLEN BURNIE, MD – In an old tobacco shed, the Air Force turns up what might well be a link with the “Flying Saucers” that have caused such a stir in aviation circles. The wreck of a novel craft with a round wing!
Unfortunately the video is missing its original sound; I’ve been unable to find a version with sound online. If anyone can find it that would be super helpful.
It appears that this is a news segment designed to debunk sightings that had occurred previous to the clip’s release, most likely the Kenneth Arnold sighting (Arnold was a respected pilot, hence the reference to “aviation circles”) and of course Roswell. The narrative of the USAF “finding” this suggests that this was something new to them which they discovered after investigation.
However, looking at the scene in the field, we can see a registration number: NX9(8?)Y. Looking at the Wiki page on aircraft registration we find that:
An older aircraft (registered before 31 December 1948) may have a second letter in its identifier, identifying the category of aircraft… X = experimental
(Thank you to u/TheEschaton for finding this reference.)
So this aircraft was properly registered and known to the authorities (at least the civilian ones). I looked into the registration of the aircraft itself, searching for both NX98Y and NX99Y. I found the registration for NX99Y as an aircraft registered to a company called Gray Goose Airways. The registration had been cancelled in August of 1939. Further research into Gray Goose Airways uncovered it was founded by a guy called Jonathan Caldwell, who did indeed try to develop several “rotating-disc” craft. It appears he was a well-known charlatan who defrauded investors and had no real understanding of aeronautics.
There, in 1931, absolutely convinced that airplanes were meant to take off vertically rather than horizontally, he developed a plane with no wings at all that moved about by means of a rapidly rotating disc. This prompted the US Air Force to suggest pointedly that Caldwell was responsible for the new UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) phenomenon at the time. The Air Force later retracted the statement, but the “flying saucer” label stuck with Caldwell for the rest of his days.
The rotating-disc aircraft, somewhat akin to a helicopter, got “several inches” off the ground, as Caldwell’s lawyer later told a judge in asserting that the planes did indeed work. Still, in February 1934, he was enjoined from selling his stock in New York as well.
But after a test flight on March 8, 1939, a report filed by the Civil Aeronautics Administration stated that the device was unsafe due to its complete lack of horizontal control.
On another page, I found more details about Caldwell’s project:
Foreseeing wide military applications for an aircraft that would be able to take off and land vertically and hover in mid-air, Caldwell even approached the Air Corps with his plans.
This shows USAF was well aware of him and his craft.
He insisted on a flight test:
According to later accounts, Driggers [the test pilot] opened up the throttle and soon found himself 40 feet in the air, supported by the whirling saucer-shaped wing and slowly gaining altitude. Seconds later, as he attempted to change course, he realized that the controls were not responding. Fearing for his safety if he continued to climb, he cut power abruptly and the plane slammed down some 200 yards from its takeoff point, smashing the landing gear in the process, but leaving Driggers uninjured.
This explains why the registration of the craft had been cancelled in August 1939. The craft and its owner had been a joke for a decade, was known to the Air Corps, and likely never flew higher than 40 feet. Yet, the USAF putting out a propaganda clip a full ten years later in 1949 suggesting this craft had been responsible for “flying saucer” reports.
I would be interested in seeing the supposed retraction from USAF, but I haven’t managed to find it yet.
Anyway, this clip proves definitively – contrary to what the AARO report stated just last week – that the USAF was directly involved in disinformation as early as 1949.
submitted by /u/ithilmir_
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