Clinton Township man dreams of creating flying machine

....He claims he's spent 30 years and $60,000 of his own money building the flying saucer, which he insists will replace the automobile and render the combustion engine and gasoline irrelevant.

Unfortunately, Carrington ran out of money before he could build his motor and hasn't been invited to this year's North American International Auto Show.

To make a tall tale short, Carrington fell on hard times. His mother's feet swelled with diabetes, and she moved into his home. Construction jobs dried up. The saucer prototype fell into disrepair and was evicted from its hangar.

...Inspired by "Star Trek" episodes and science fiction novelist H.G. Wells, the simplest explanation of Carrington's flying saucer goes something like this: Measuring 14-feet in diameter and constructed of carbon fiber, the craft would have two discs that rotate in opposite directions. The discs would be fitted with electro-magnetic technology and would connect to a coil mounted in the interior of the discs, which in turn would send electrical power to batteries.  This, according to Carrington, would create a continuous, perpetual power source. Steering would come by benefit of air ducts running through the craft that could be opened or closed for desired propulsional direction.

... Richard E. Wirz is an assistant professor at UCLA and formerly a senior engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory who specializes in spacecraft integration and developed the world's first miniature noble gas ion thruster. He says Carrington's flyer-saucer has about as much chance of getting airborne as a dead elephant.

"Using electro-magnetic energy to power his craft is like saying I'm using tires to power my car," says Wirz.

"The power has to come from somewhere. He's talking about using batteries, but the size of batteries he needs would be so large, he wouldn't be able to get the craft off the ground. Did you see the 'Iron Man' movie? If he had a little reactor like that, then that might do the trick."

via Clinton Township man dreams of creating flying machine | detnews.com | The Detroit News.

The article makes it seems like no one has succeeded at creating circular winged aircraft. I believe otherwise. There have been many attempts with different power sources including jet engines. This is one of my favorites. It is from 1956 posted at cufon:

February 1956 Volume 9 Number 2

Published by the Directorate of Intelligence UNITED STATES AIR FORCE

SECRET

TECHNICAL BRIEFS

Page 42

René Couzinet of France reportedly has improved his original design of a circular planform, vertical take-off-and-landing aircraft. The reported specifications for the improved version are:

Span: 44.6 feet
Lifting surface area: 645.6 square feet
Six Lycoming engines (180 hp each): 1,080 hp
One turbojet (Marcel Dassault Viper): 1,639 pounds thrust
Empty weight: 9,900 pounds
Useful load: 19,800 pounds
Total weight: 27,700 pounds

According to the report, the modified version incorporates a principle of operation similar to that used in Couzinet’s original proposal, that is, two contra-rotating discs superimposed to annul gyroscopic effect. The discs are supported by a fixed central section in which the cockpit, the engines, and landing gear are located. There are now 50 adjustable vanes around the periphery of each disc instead of the 48 in the earlier proposal.

It is claimed that this improved version has already undergone preliminary wind tunnel tests, and is expected to be flown in April.

The text on UFOs from The Red Pill wiki is something I wrote years ago.