The Flying Saucer Phenomenon

It all began on June 24, 1947 when pilot Kenneth Arnold spotted some mysterious crescent-shaped lights skipping like saucers in the sky while he flew his small airplane. He reported seeing nine of the objects flying in a "V" formation over Mount Rainier, Washington (There was also a little known report in 1947 near a little town in New Mexico called Roswell). In the war years there were reports of "ghost rockets" and "foo fighters," but the tales never really caught public attention. This story however changed all that. The terms "flying saucer"and "flying disc" were adopted.

After reports of the Arnold sighting hit the media, other cases began to be reported in increasing numbers. By early July there was a sudden surge in sightings. Most American newspapers were filled with front-page stories of the new "flying saucers" or "flying discs" phenomenon.

In 1948 and 1949, strange green fireballs were seen exploding over the skies of New Mexico. Many feared they were guided missiles sent by the Soviet Union. The Air Force concluded that they were merely meteors.


1950 introduces the first flying saucer on celluloid, with the movie The Flying Saucer.

The Day the Earth Stood Still directed by Robert Wise, was released in 1951.

News stories and magazine articles pop up with topics such as "Some Saucers Still A Mystery," "Little Men Dressed In Blue," "Saucers And Mass Hysteria," and "Visitors From Outer Space?"

The United States Air Force, which coined the new term in 1952, initially defined UFOs as those objects that remain unidentified after scrutiny by expert investigators.

During the summer of 1952 Unidentified Flying Objects were seen roaming the skies over Washington D.C. and the White House.

George Adamski allegedly met an alien called Orthon in the California desert November 20, 1952. These friendly visitors warned of the dangers of scientific progress and gave a message for humanity.

In 1955 Fred Morrison sold his flying disc invention to WHAMO, which originally introduced it in 1957 as the "Pluto Platter". Three years later WHAMO rebranded the "Pluto Platter" as the "Frisbee."


In 1957 Brazil, farmer Antonio Villas Boas claimed a space woman captured and "had her way" with him.

Also in 1957 the Canadian aircraft builder AVRO (with considerable funding by the United States Air Force) rolls out its wingless saucer-shaped Y-2 Project, re-named the Avrocar.

In 1961, Betty and Barney Hill reported seeing a UFO following their car the night of September 19. Later, under hypnosis there was revealed a strange story of abduction.

By the end of the decade the saucer craze became an inseperable part of life in the Atomic Era America, and the rest of the globe for that matter: we ate flying saucer wafer candy, we lit our homes with flying saucer lighting, we watched them fly across the movie screen, we read the novelized stories in books, and we could play with an endless array of imaginative space toys. Disney turned them into amusement rides. Song writers composed about them. Architects even designed buildings to emulate them.


Was it all nothing more than swamp gas?

Or a misidentification of the planet Venus?

Does it really matter?

space monsters, originally uploaded by hastingsgraham.

Watch the skies. Always keep watching.

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Resources:

• Wikipedia
• Out of this World History
• Man-Made Flying Saucers
• Flying Saucer Candy

This Flying Saucer featurette is also published on the blog Atomic Living

Headlines That Look to the Skies

Mary Ellen Anderson is one of Texas students to organize saucer post

Seaman Shell Alpert, USCG, photographed saucers in formation. The dramatic photo of saucers was made July 16, 1952, at 9:35 a.m. by Coast Guard.

Captain E. J. Smith describes saucer he saw near Boise, Idaho, to stewardess Toni Carter

South California, 1951

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All images taken from the Fawcett publication "Mysteries of Other Worlds Revealed" published in 1952.

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This Flying Saucer featurette is also published on the blog Atomic Living

Space Station

Detail of the Space Station in earth orbit, as proposed by Dr. Wernher von Braun

The Space Station with a space taxi just leaving its landing berth . . . the two men on the outside of the station are secured by lines hooked to holding rings which are provided for this purpose. These two men follow the rotation of the Space Station and if not fastened to it would be thrown off tangentially.

The Space Station is 1075 miles above the Pacific Ocean, above a point 800 miles south bu east of the Galapagos Islands. The visual angle of the picture is 50 degrees, the horizon 3000 miles away, and the area of the picture about 4 million square miles . . . The area that would be visible from the station at any moment is a circle with a diameter of 6000 miles, or about 29 million square miles.

painting by Chesley Bonestell
from Across the Space Frontier
edited by Cornelius Ryan
1952

First Trip to Our Moon

The first trip to our moon will be without landing, in a ship designed to travel in space only, taking off near the Space Station and returning to it. Here the round-the-moon ship is some 240,000 miles from earth, 50 miles above the lunar surface. The large crater is Aristillus (diameter 35 miles); the other crater is Autocylus; the distant mountains are the lunar Apennines.

painting by Chesley Bonestell
from Across the Space Frontier
edited by Cornelius Ryan
1952

Planet Stories Vol. 5, No. 7

Planet Stories
Vol. 5, No. 7
July 1952

Inside the von Braun Rocket

A three-stage rocket ship prior to take-off from its base on Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean. The ship rests on a movable platform; it is boarded, loaded, and fueled from a stationary structure not shown in the picture. For today's comparatively small rockets the firing table is stationary and the Gantry crane movable; for large rockets this procedure will be reversed.

The von Braun three-stage rocket
from "Across the Space Frontier"
Edited by Cornelius Ryan
illustration by Rolf Klep
1952

Moon Base

cutaway drawing depicts how men manning moon base would live: note helicopter landing roof and hanger cut into rock

from The Mystery of Other Worlds Revealed
Fawcett Books, 1952

Conquest of Space - 1955

See How it will Happen in Your Lifetime! the bold teaser states . . . Conquest of Space, the 1955 movie produced by George Pal. The plot depicts a voyage to Mars, pulling from all science and technology of the day to be as realistic as possible.

As stated on Wikipedia, "Conquest of Space was based on The Conquest of Space, a non-fiction 1949 book illustrated by Chesley Bonestell and written by Willy Ley. Bonestell is noted for his photorealistic paintings of views from outer space, and worked on the space background art for the movie. The film also incorporated material from Wernher von Braun's 1952 book The Mars Project. The two books are straight popular science, with no story line.

The entire movie revolves around the struggle to endure the long trip, and the struggle to survive on Mars until a return to Earth was possible, with the underlying theme questioning whether mankind has the right to explore the heavens, or is he setting out as an invader to worlds not his own.





Directed by: Byron Haskin
Produced by: George Pal
Starring: Walter Brooke, Eric Fleming, Mickey Shaughnessy
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release date: April 20, 1955 (U.S. release)

Space Travel is Serious Business

"british scientists are seriously engaged in a five-point program to develop a rocket that will carry men to the moon."
from The Mystery of Other Worlds Revealed, 1952

Arrival of the Supply Ship

Detail of the arrival of a supply ship, as propased by Dr. Wernher von Braun, to the earth-orbiting Space Station

The Third Stage of one of the rocket ships which originally established the station; next to the Third Stage, one of the small space taxis; in the forground another space taxi near the astronomical observatory . . . The men in space suits near the Third Stage and near the Observatory are floating freely.

painting by Chesley Bonestell
from Across the Space Frontier
edited by Cornelius Ryan
1952

Moon Landing Under Earthlight

artist thomas voter's conception of a moon landing is shown, inset against actual photo of moon. note size of earth.

from The Mystery of Other Worlds Revealed, Fawcett Books, 1952

The Third Stage

The Third Stage of a rocket ship on its way to the orbit of the station in space. The painting shows the Third Stage at the instant of separation from the Second Stage; the later, its fuel supply expended and its parachute out, is dropping off. At this instant the ship is 39.8 miles above the Pacific, 332 miles from the launching site on Johnston Island, and 900 miles west of Honolulu.

Painting by Chesley Bonestell
from Across the Space Frontier, edited by Cornelius Ryan, 1952

The Collier's Space Flight Series

For the early part of the decade a series of stories featured in eight issues of Colliers, penned by the brightest rocket scientists of the day and brilliantly illustrated by Chesley Bonestell, sparked the imagination of the American public. For a summary of the Colliers series of articles concerning the possibilities of manned spaceflight, launch: The Ugly Spaceship.

Man Will Conquer Space Soon (March 22, 1952)

Man on the Moon/The Journey/Inside the Moon Ship (Oct 18, 1952)

(not featured on cover)
Man on the Moon/Inside the Lunar Base (Oct 25, 1952)

World's First Space Suit (Feb 28, 1953)

(not featured on cover)
Testing the Men in Space (March 7, 1953)

How Man Will Meet Emergency In Space Travel (March 14, 1953)

Baby Space Station (June 27, 1953)

Can We Get to Mars?/Is There Life on Mars? (April 30, 1954)

Interplanetary Traveler

from "The Mystery of Other Worlds Revealed" (Fawcett Book 166), 1952.

"The Mystery of Other Worlds Revealed" (1952)

"The Mystery of Other Worlds Revealed"
Fawcett Book Number 166
Author: Larry Eisinger (editor-in-chief)
Publisher: Fawcett (Sterling Publishing Co.) NY 1952
magazine, 144 pages
original price: $.75

Contents

1. Spaceships are Already Here!, by Harland Manchester
   
2. The Physical Problems of Space Travel Are Being Solved, by James L. H. Peck
   
3. A Journey to the Moon, by M. W. Wholey, G. I. Mech. E.
   
4. From the Moon to Mars, by Willy Ley
5. Life on Other Worlds, by M. Frederic Sanchez, PH. D.
   
6. Communication With Other Worlds, by Willy Ley
7. The Expanding Universe, by Lloyd Mallan
   
8. Space Travel is a Serious Business, by Alfred Eris
   
9. Space Travel in History, Fiction & Film, by Lloyd Mallan
   
10. Fortress on a Skyhook, by Frank Tinsley
    
11. Possibilities for an Invasion Base on the Moon, by Willy Ley
12. A Case for the Flying Saucers, by Donald E. Keyhoe
13. An Investigation of the Carolina Saucer, by John Duberry
    

Profusely illustrated with nearly 300 photos (B/W). Subjects include rocket development, space travel, life on other worlds, science fiction movies and flying saucers. Cover photo is from the movie When Worlds Collide (George Pal/Paramount Pictures).

Jet Assisted Moon Rocket

all paintings by Chesley Bonestell,
from The Mystery of Other Worlds Revealed, 1952

Life on Other Worlds

Whether or not intelligent life may exist on other planets
of our system, chances are it does throughout the universe.

The drawings here are by Edd Cartier, originally from the book, "Travelers of Space" published by Gnome Press, New York, and reprinted in "The Mystery of Other Worlds Revealed," published by Fawcett, 1952.

"on some unknown planet revolving about a distant sun, conditions conceivably could develop a being part insect, part bird."

(left) weird conception of artist here suggests combination of fish, mammal.
(center) for this creature, artist used parts of octopus and carniverous plant.
(right) an enviroment unlike that of earth might condition insect animals.

despite all these weird creatures imagined by well known science fiction illustrator edd cartier, the probability that intelligent life on other planets would have developed in a matter similar to our own


(left) a planet like jupiter, with poison gases in atmosphere, might sustain life like this.
(right) silicon-cell insects on earth have been known to live indefinitely in kerosene.

"artist frank tinsley has this conception of life on jupiter: regardless of form, however, cell-content and structure develop from a limited set of favorable conditions.

from The Mystery of Other Worlds Revealed, 1952