But persistent and fairly credible rumors recur that a Canadian aircraft manufacturer, A.V. Roe, Canada, Ltd., has had a saucer design under development for two years. One report has it that the project was abandoned by the Canadian government because it would cost over $75 million to get a prototype flying model into the air.
The A.V. Roe people maintain a confusing silence about the whole thing. They can’t deny the project has been abandoned because they never announced it had begun. Our own Air Force offers ‘no comment.’ Military security and rapidly changing defense problems not only cloud many details of a project like this but also obscure whether anything comparable actually exists. But based on the current requirements of our defense effort and the demonstrated abilities of our designers, an educated guess is that a flying saucer much like this one may well be flying within the next few years.”
Brig. Gen. Benjamin Kelsey, deputy director of research and development of the U.S. Air Force, remarked that modern aircraft need extremely long runways vulnerable to an enemy attack, while a flying saucer would not. “These few, and the concentration of the planes using them, provide a worth-while target for an A-bomb. With a single blow, the enemy might cripple a substantial portion of our air defense,” he said.
Look Magazine carried a three-page report complete with artists drawings about the AVROCAR. Much of its content was pure speculation and apart from the fact it was a ‘round saucer’, it bore little resemblance to the ‘top secret’ AVROCAR. The above drawing appeared on page 45 of the June 14, 1955 issue. From files at the Toronto Resource Library.
The general populace was curious and, over the years, many regarded sightings and talk of a flying saucer as pure fantasy while others held a genuine fear of the thought of aliens from outer space.
The only exception to these fears might well have been a group of engineers working behind doors marked ‘top secret’ at Malton’s AVRO plant.
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