Destination Moon (1950)

Images from the production of "Destination Moon," 1950, from the photographers of LIFE magazine. With sets conceived by Chesley Bonestell, co-scripted by Robert Heinlein, it drew upon all resources available at the time to depict such a journey as accurately as possible.

The Green Girl

greengirl, originally uploaded by twincovercollector.

Vintage paperback The Green Girl
Avon Fantasy Novel Number 2.
by Jack Williamson
Published by Avon in 1950
Cover artist unknown

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

May 17, 1950 - XS-1 Rocketplane

May 17, 1950 - The XS-1 (an upgraded version of the X-1), with NACA test pilot John H Griffith at the stick, reaches Mach 1.13 at 12810 miles. It's the 35 flight of the rocket plane.

Mr. Smith Goes to Venus

Launch Chesley Bonestell's "Mr. Smith Goes to Venus"

Originally published by Coronet magazine, March, 1950

This page contains an article featuring some rarities by the celebrated space artist Chesley Bonestell. As stated by the author: "Bonestell did art for dozens of Hollywood movies, including Destination Moon, When Worlds Collide, and Conquest of Space. [The article] describes a family’s trip to Venus. Bonestell did the art work for the movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, hence the title of the piece."

Special thanks to Resources for Science Fiction Writers for sharing this article.

An Unconventional Time

Undated photo of the jet-powered Northrop NS-97.

The post-war era. Dr. Von Braun. Missiles. The Space Race. Rocket technology. Willy Ley. Little green men. Cold War. Ex-German Science know-how. Colliers. Rocky Jones. White Sands. Flying Discs. It was an uncertain, unconventional time which called for equally unconventional means to gain the upperhand with the ulimate prize being the sole controlled access to space.


1/11 Update:
Look at IFO Picture Library Quoting from the source, "Dick Stasinos designed this saucer, in 1950. He was an engineering graduate of the Northrop Aeronautical Institute. Stasinos’s disc had a revolving outer shell and held eight turbo-jet ports. The center of the disc stayed stationary, along with the cockpit for the pilot. Two main jets provided the push and the eight jets provided the spin."