B00AY88OHE EBOK (6 page)

10.  Meier, 1999, page 23

Cryptic and Enigmatic Letter Describes Flying Disc Development

On the left is the original letter sent to the author by Andreas Epp. On the right is a typed version done by Dadmon. Notes in English are directed to the author. The Letter starts without any formal or informal greeting, stating only “Still alive.” Flying disc research “sehr gut” with vertical takeoff at speeds of 860-880 kilometers per hour (525-550 miles per hour.)

Flying Disc Test Pilot Otto Lange

Original and author’s translation of letter signed by Lange acknowledging Epp’s role in flying disc history.

11.  Personal letter from J. Andreas Epp dated 1⅔0/91

12.  Epp, 1994, page 27, 30

13.  Lusar, 1964, 220

14.  Holberg, Jan, 8/20/54, page 4, “UFOs gibt es nicht! Wohl aber: Flugscheiben am laufenden Band!” Das Neue Zeitalter

15.  Epp, 1994, page 31

16.  Barton, Michael X., 1968, page 38,
The German Saucer Story
, Futura Press, Los Angeles (based upon Hermann Klaas)

17.  Zwicky, Viktor, September 19, 1954, page 4, Tages-Anzeiger fuer Stadt und Kanton Zuerich, “Das Raetsel der Fliegenden Teller Ein Interview mit Oberingenieur Georg Klein, der unseren Lesern Ursprung und Konstruktion dieser Flugkoerper erklaert”

18.  Klein, Georg, October 16, 1954, page 5, “Die Fliegenden Teller,” Tages-Anzeiger fuer Stadt und Kanton Zuerich

19.  Epp, 1994, page 31

20.  ibid

21.  Epp, 1994, page 34

22.  Lusar, 1964, page 220

23.  Meier, Hans Justus, 1999, page 10, “Zum Thema “Fleigende Untertassen” Der Habermohlsche Flugkreisel,” Fliegerkalender Internationales Jahrbuch der Luft-und Raumfahrt

24.  Combined Intelligence Committee Evaluation Reports, Combined Intelligence Objectives Subcommittee, Evaluation Report 149, page 8

25.  Der Spiegel, March 30, 1959, “Untertassen Sie fliegen aber doch” Article about and interview of Rudolf Schriever

26.  Zunneck, 1998, page 119

27.  This written statement, translated from Bavarian dialect to High German was provided courtesy of publisher Thomas Mehner

28.  Epp, 1994, page 30

29.  Epp, 1994, page 31

30.  Personal letter from J. Andreas Epp dated 1⅔0/91

31.  ibid

32.  Klein, Georg, October 16, 1954, page 5, “Die “Fliegenden Teller,” Tages-Anzeiger fuer Stadt und Kanton Zuerich

33.  Epp, 1994, page 26

34.  ibid

35.  Epp, 1994, page 27

36.  Epp, 1994, page 33

37.  ibid

38.  Kadmon, 2000, Ahnstern lX, “Andreas Epp,” Aorta c/o Petak, Postfach 778, A-1011, Wien, Austria

39.  Personal letter from Andreas Epp, dated 1⅔0/91

40.  Combined Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee Evaluation Report, Report Number

40  “Sonderausschuss”

41.  Kadmon, 2000, Ahnstern lX, “Andreas Epp”

42.  Personal letter from Andreas Epp, dated 1⅔0/91

43.  Epp, 1994, page 3

The Miethe-Belluzzo Project

This saucer project may have been an outgrowth of flying wing research. It was begun in 1942, and was under the on-site authority of Dr. Richard Miethe, sometimes called Dr. Heinrich Richard Miethe. Not much is known about Dr. Miethe before the war. After the war Dr. Miethe is rumored to have worked on the Anglo-American saucer project at the firm of Avro Aircraft Limited of Canada. Such is stated Klein (1), Epp (2), Barton (3), Lusar (4), as well as a myriad of other sources. We will return to the Avro projects later.

Working with Dr. Miethe was an Italian engineer, Professor Guiseppe Belluzzo. Belluzzo was the Deputy, Senator and Minister of National Economy under Mussolini. He had written several books on technical matters including Steam Turbines in 1926 and Calculations and Installations of Modern Turbine Hydrolics in 1922 (names are English translations of Italian titles). Belluzzo was considered to be an expert in steam turbines. Dr. Belluzzo was not a junior scientist and he was not Dr. Miethe’s assistant. He was a senior scientist whose expertise was somehow invaluable on the saucer devices or planned further developments of them.

After the war Belluzzo seems to have led a quiet life in Italy until his death on 5/2⅖2. Unlike Miethe, however, Belluzzo went on record about German flying discs after the war. He is quoted on the subject in The Mirror, a major Los Angeles newspaper in 1950. This may be the first mention of the subject in the American press. In his obituary in the New York Times his work on the German saucer program is mentioned. (Please refer to copies of these articles).

This team worked in facilities in Dresden, Breslau and Letow/Prag according to Epp (5). Both this project and the Schriever and Habermohl projects were directed by the same experts and advisors (6). From Epp’s discussion, it is clear that Dr. Walter Dornberger first evaluated and recommended his saucer model for further development (7). Miethe is described by Epp in translation as a “known V-weapons designer"(8). The association of both projects to Peenemuende is clear. Both were sanctioned and set up by officials there, probably by Dr. Walter Dornberger himself. Miethe and Belluzzo worked primarily in Dresden and Breslau but for a brief time they may have actually joined forces with Schriever and Habermohl in Prag, as evidenced by Klein’s statement that three saucer models were destroyed on the Prag tarmac (9). One saucer, which Klein he describes as Miethe’s was among these. Klein acknowledges that Peenemuende, and its nearby test facility at Stettin, retained and developed the Miethe design as an unmanned vehicle (10)(11).

Epp tells us that the Miethe-Belluzzo project was organized under exactly the same authority as the Schriever-Habermohl project and he further identifies the very same industrial firms which supported Schriever-Habermohl as supporting this project (12). In reality, both should be viewed as one project with different aspects.

The designs envisioned by Dr. Miethe and Professor Belluzzo were quite different from those of Schriever and Habermohl. Designs of this project consisted of a discus-shaped craft whose outer periphery did not rotate. Two designs have positively been attributed to Miethe and Belluzzo although three designs exist as part of their legacy.

The first design is made known to us from Georg Klein’s article in the October 16, 1954 edition of the Swiss newspaper, Tages-Anzeiger fuer Stadt und Kanton Zuerich, mentioned above. The same design is reproduced in the book by J. Andreas Epp. This saucer was not intended to take-off vertically but at an angle as does a conventional airplane. In this design twelve jet engines are shown to be mounted “outboard” to power the craft. The cockpit was mounted at the rear of the vehicle and a periscope used to monitor directions visually impaired. Notably, a large gyroscope mounted internally at the center of the craft provided stability. This and other Miethe-Belluzzo designs were said to be 42 meters or 138 feet in diameter.

Aeronautical writer Hans Justus Meier has challenged this design on a number of grounds (13). It is certainly possible, if not probable, that the outboard jet-turbine arrangement is incorrect. One might ask, if this was an outboard jet-turbine design, then what purpose did the bloated central body serve? In reality the twelve jets may simply have been jet nozzles of one engine. Certainly the large central body had a function, it may have housed the engine.

But how could the authenticity of this design come under question when Georg Klein is vouching for it in his article? The answer may be that Klein never saw this design himself and he simply is relying on the descriptions of those that did. If one reads the works of Klein carefully, he never claims to have seen this model in flight. As a matter of fact, he never claims to have actually seen this design at all. We will return to the flaws with Klein’s description momentarily.

The second Miethe design seems to have originated with a 1975 German magazine article (14). This version shows a cockpit above and below the center of the craft. Four jet engines lying behind the cockpits are shown as the powerplants. No real detail is supplied in this article. This design is not ever discussed in the text which deals primarily with the Schriever-Habermohl Project. Some writers have speculated on this particular design, supplying detail (15). For now, however, no named source seems to be able to link this design with the Miethe-Belluzzo Project. Therefore, at least for the time being, we must put this design in suspense and focus on the first and next design in discussing the aforementioned saucer project.

The third design attributed to the Miethe-Belluzzo Project comes to us from an article by Jan Holberg in an August 20, 1966 article in Das Neue Zeitalter and also from Michael X. Barton-Carl F. Mayer-Hermann Klaas connection (16) (17). This design was capable of vertical take-off. Klaas provides internal detail which has been reproduced here.

At first, this appears to be a push-pull propeller system driven by a single engine. It is not. Neither are the twelve jet nozzles unsupported in any way as depicted. The real answer to this mystery is that this drawing is incomplete. With the completed parts depicted, a radial turbojet engine of special type would appear. Design one differs from design three in that the latter, with its centrally located cabin and symmetrical arrangement of twelve adjustable jet nozzles, is controlled by selectively shutting off various jets through the use of a surrounding ring. This allows the saucer to make turns and to take off vertically.

Giuseppe Belluzzo

On the left, a column from The Mirror, dated March 24, 1950. This is one of the earliest English references to German flying discs. On the right is Dr. Belluzzo’s obituary, dated May 22, 1952 from the New York Times which again mentions German flying discs.

The Miethe-Belluzzo Disc–Design One

On the left is a reconstruction by Georg Klein, 10/16/54, from the Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger. Note the small “Stabisator” and the outboard jet engines. On the right is Klaus-Peter Rothkugel’s more probable reconstruction incorporating fins, skids, and the inner-lying Rene Leduc engine.

The Miethe-Belluzzo Disc–Designs Two and Three