FLYING SAUCERS ARE ONCE AGAIN REPORTED SEEN IN AUSTRALIA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27358, 6 April 1950, Page 7

FLYING SAUCERS ARE ONCE AGAIN REPORTED SEEN IN AUSTRALIA

From C. R. Mentiplay, NZPA Special Correspondent Rec. 11 p.m. SYDNEY, Apl. 5. For the first time in over a year Australians are seeing flying saucers again. An apparently well-ahthenticated' report irom Stanthorpe, an inland township 200 miles from Brisbane, states that six men, one a glider enthusiast, claim to have seen a spherical or disc-shaped object similar to those described overseas shooting across the sky at an estimated height of 50,000 feet, The object was in sight for three minutes, after which it disappeared behind a cloud formation.

Colin Smith, of Stanthorpe, said that the object resembled an electric light bulb suspended in the air. This is the first time anything of this nature has been reported from Queensland but two years ago, when the first flying saucer “ epidemic ” was running its course, various manifestations were described in New South Wales, Victoria. South Australia and Tasmania. Physiological Explanation Such reports died out suddenly after Professor F. S. Cotton, of Sydney University, inventor of the flying suit designed to offset the stresses of high speed flight, stated that the appearance of flying saucers had a simple physiological explanation. With a class of students, he demonstrated that the illusion of saucers could be produced by red blood corpuscles passing in front of the retina of the eye when an observer gazed overlong at the sky. Within 10 minutes 22 students subjected to the test reported seeing silvery objects moving swiftly across the sky, some in strings like pearls. Earlier Inventions Since then, however, it has been learned beyond doubt that flying saucers do exist in Australia — in the Patents Office at Canberra. These saucers are in the form of specifications, some of them dating back to 1930. Aeronautical experts who have examined them say they consist of six separate specifications

all embodying the same fundamental principle, and that if constructed they would result in practical machines similar to flying saucers. Accompanying drawings show the inventions as resembling huge inverted saucers capable theoretically of rising vertically, hovering in the air, or flying laterally at great speed. The first applicant for the patent was Charles Edmund Johnson, of Hobart in 1930. Others were lodged over the next two years by inventors in France. Japan and the United Experts believe that it is highly probable that Americans are experimenting with flying saucers patented as long as 25 years ago. The explanation of the delay is simple enough. The main difficulty met by the early designers was that of finding a suitable power plant. Leonardo da Vinci designed an aeroplane which undoubtedly would have flown had it been fitted with a petrol engine. The discovery of the jet engine is believed to have made practicable old designs embodying saucer type wings which are known to embody the basic aerodynamic principles of lift used on conventional aircraft. -