Annexe "D" - Appareils de type aile volante

(Confidentiel) [puis déclassifié]

1. Des ingénieurs en aéronautique de divers pays have been engaged for some time in the design, construction and flight of flying wing type aircraft. The study of flying objects requires, at least, a brief examination of proposed and existing unconventional aircraft whose configurations, when seen by the the uninitiated, could lead to reports of strange flying devices. A description of some of the more significant types by country follows.
2. Allemagne. At the end of World War II, German aircraft designers had numerous projects under way concerning tailless aircraft which conceivably could be mistaken for "Flying Saucers" or disc-like objects. It is not clear just what the Soviets are doing in the way of developing these projects but it is considered that German studies on tailless, delta-wing, and related configurations are available to the URSS.
   1. ARADO NIGHT AND BAD WEATHER FIGHTER, PROJECT I.   This is a tailless, low-wing monoplane with swept-back wings of large root chord and having a long, narrow fuselage
      

      Span		60.3 feet
      Length		42.6 feet
      Power Plant		1 HeS O11 turbo jet unit
      Max. Speed (sea level)		441 mph
      Max. Speed (29,500 feet)		503 mph

      
      
   2. ARADO E 581-4. A high-wing tailless single-seater with a single jet unit mounted in the fuselage. Fin and rudder units are mounted on the wing midway between the fuselage and the wing tip at the trailing edge.
      

      Span		29.3 feet
      Length		18.4 feet
      Power Plant		HeS O11 turbo jet unit
      Max. Speed (sea level)		---
      Max. Speed (service ceiling)		---

      
      
   3. GOTHA P 60-A. This was the first of the P 60 series of jet fighters. It is a flying wing type and, since the pilot and observer lie prone, there is no projecting canopy, thus permitting a particularly clean design. The jet units are mounted at the rear of the center section, one above and one below.
      

      Span		40 feet 8 1/2 in.
      Wing Area		504 square feet
      Power Plant		2 BMW 003 turbo jet units
      Max. Speed (23,000 feet)		596 miles per hour

      
      
   4. HEINKEL P-1080. This is a single-seat fighter with a sharply swept-back wing, resembling a flying wing type, but having a single fin and rudder with no tail plane.
      

      Span		29.2 feet
      Wing Area		218 square feet

      No   performance   estimates   are   available

      
      
   5. JUNKERS EF-130. Of the flying wing type, this project was established as a long-range, high-speed jet bomber.
      

      Span		78.8 feet
      Wing Area		1290 square feet
      Power Plant		4 HeS O11 turbo jet units
      Max. Speed		620 miles per hour
      Range		3700 miles

      
      
   6. ME-329.   This is a tailless mid-wing monoplane driven by two pusher propellers with the engine centrally located in the wings on each side of the stubby rounded fuselage.
      

      Span		56 feet
      Length		25.4 feet
      Max. Speed		455-465 miles per hour
      Power Plant		2 DB reciprocating engines

      
      
   7. HORTEN WING.  The closest resemblance to the estimated configuration of "Flying Disks" is represented by the Horten Wing aircraft. Work on the Horten 229, a twin jet fighter, had progressed to the final stages at the end of World War II. Its prototype, a Horten glider, successfully soared to an altitude of 14 200 feet as early as 1938, proving the soundness of this design. (Figs. 1, 2, and 3)
      
      
      Fig.  1
      
       
      Fig.  2
      
       
      Fig.   3
      
        
3. Grande Bretagne
   1. THE ARMSTRONG WHITWORTH. The AW 52 G, a glider, and the AW 52, a twin-jet airplane, are British designs of tailless aircraft. The vertical stabilizers are located at the tips of the swept-back wing. (Figs. 4 and 5.) Data on the AW 52 appear below:
      

      Span		90 feet
      Length		37 feet
      Max. Speed (sea level)		435 knots
      Max. Speed (20,000 feet)		435 knots
      Max. Speed (36,000 feet)		417 knots
      Range		1300 nautical miles
      Power Plant		2 Nene II turbo jet units

      
      Fig.  4
      
      
      Fig.   5
      
4. Etats-Unis
   1. NORTHROP B-35. This is a flying wing type aircraft, powered by four reciprocating engines and has a wing span of 172 feet and a length of only 53 feet. (See Fig. 6)
      
      Fig.   6
   2. NORTHROP YB-49. Powered by eight turbo-jet engines, this airplane is the jet-propelled version of the Northrop Flying Wing. (B-35)   (See Fig. 7)
      
      Fig.  7
      
   3. CHANCE-VOUGHT XF5U-1.  Developed by Chance-Vought Aircraft, this radical design promises the reality of high and low speed performance.  Powered by two R-2000-2 engines, the airplane will have a speed range from 40 to 425 miles per hour. (See Fig. 8)
      
      Fig.  8
      
   4. ARUP TAILLESS MONOPLANE.  Jane's "All The World's Aircraft" (1935 edition) describes this airplane as "a two-seat machine with a 70 h.p. LeBlond engine....This has a high aspect ratio wing with straight leading-edge and built in nacelle...." In plan form, the wing is almost semi-circular.
      An Air Force film "Aeronautical Oddities", shows this airplane in flight at South Bend, Indiana and in some attitudes appears identical to the photograph included in Annexe "C"; as Figure 4. Although it is believed that the ARUP Manufacturing Co. is no longer in existence, it is possible that later models of this or similar U.S. civil aircraft may have been observed.
      

      Span		22 feet
      Length		19 feet
      Power Plant		1 LeBlond engine
      Max. Speed		86 miles per hour

      
      Fig.   9
      
5. Bien que l'annexe "D" se vise pas à expliquer de manière concluante le phénomène des "Soucoupes Volantes", la possibilité que des appareils de type non conventionnel soient la cause de signalements de disques volants ne soit pas être sous estimée.