Why are UFOs saucers?

[Shinova]

Disregarding whether UFOs are real or hoaxed and whether they're test planes or alien spacecraft, I've always wondered, 'why the saucer shape?'

Is there something to the saucer shape that makes it better for space travel compared to the cylinder or cone or whatever?

[Koolaidkirby]

well, when I was younger and still watched star trek :p I always used to think that things were harder to put into "warp" the further they were from the engine (the centre)

not that what I thought when I was younger and what these hoaxers thought may not have had much in common

[Darth Servo]

The "flying saucer" easily pre-dates TOS though. I remember watching a 'making of' TOS; they commented they actually wanted to get away from the flying saucer motiff. As they were toying around with different ideas for the ship, they reasoned it should be something spherical, since thats the most efficient shape; most volume per surface area, etc but eventually decided it would look retarded. So they decided to mash the sphere flat and ended up with...a saucer.

Perhaps the saucer is so common in old sci-fi because its so different from real-life aircraft?

[Singular Intellect]

If it's assumed that UFOs are A) established as real existing craft of some sort, and B) consistently determined to be saucer shaped, then the most logical conclusion is that these craft are likely designed this way by virtue of engineering necessity.

It would be equivalent of a primitive man asking why all the aircraft (or UFOs from his perspective) he spots flying above him have the common characteristics of two large fixed wings and two smaller ones behind those.

[Darth Wong]

Disregarding whether UFOs are real or hoaxed and whether they're test planes or alien spacecraft, I've always wondered, 'why the saucer shape?'

Because of all the popular alien spaceship shapes invented by early sci-fi movie creators, the saucer most resembles a weather balloon from a distance.

[Shinova]

That seems probably, because I was under the impression that even with highly advanced space-faring tech, the most efficient spacecraft form would be a sphere, a cylinder, or a needle-like cone.

[Patrick Degan]

The flying saucer entered the public consciousness for the first time when people actually spotted this thing:



over the skies of Connecticut. Behold the Chance-Vought XFSU-1 Flying Flapjack. One of the first attempts at a VSTOL aircraft, it was able to take off with a minimal run-up distance due to the employment of its entire undersurface as a lifting body. The prototypes tested in 1943 but priority production of the Corsair and Kingfisher delayed its development and the advent of jet fighters led to its demise.

[Darth Tanner]

Because there really were flying saucers at the time, although they didn't work too well.

Also the typical flying saucer model is much easier and cheaper to produce, either on film or by hoaxers as it doesn’t matter if it starts spinning on the string that’s holding it up.

[Surlethe]

In addition to the actual flying saucers posted above and the fact that weather balloons seen from a distance are saucer-shaped, most lens flares are also saucer-shaped. So when you take a picture with a bright source of light in it, you may get a bright flying saucer in the sky.

[PainRack]

It should be noted that the first UFOs were either cigar shaped or triangles The first use of Flying saucer can be attributed to Kenneth Arnold, who described the UFO he saw as skipping across the sky, like a saucer.

Since it was his report that sparked off the modern UFO craze, that may had a follow on effect on later reports. Indeed, it was only post Arnold that saucers began to take on dish-like images.

[Adrian Laguna]

The irony being that Kenneth Arnold's statement was widely misinterpreted, he did not see a flying saucer. He intended the analogy to describe how the objects moved, their shape was more cigar-like IIRC.

[PainRack]

The irony being that Kenneth Arnold's statement was widely misinterpreted, he did not see a flying saucer. He intended the analogy to describe how the objects moved, their shape was more cigar-like IIRC.

Nope. He described them as flying wings. You're referring to pre-Arnold reports.

[PainRack]

Nope. He described them as flying wings. You're referring to pre-Arnold reports.

Edit: I should also point out that he did describe them as circular discs at various point, like a flat saucer.

[Zixinus]

I recall there was something with the aerodynamics configuration of a saucer that made it attractive. Anyone remember anything like that?

[Mobiboros]

The saucer/disk shape goes back a long time. A lot of ancient mythologies had their gods riding around in disk shaped objects. The biblical book of ezekiel has some of the "Angels" appearing as wheels surrounded by eyes. Roman accounts of "Burning shields"., etc...

There's specific cloud formations that look like saucers as well, so it could stem from there as one possibility. As for the modern craze... as others have already said, a few accounts turn into a craze. Which is why it went from saucers to triangles when saucers became old hat.

[Lambda 00]

History channel has some interesting stuff on this:
http://www.history.com/shows.do?action= ... eId=273070

[(name here)]

Nope. He described them as flying wings. You're referring to pre-Arnold reports.

Edit: I should also point out that he did describe them as circular discs at various point, like a flat saucer.

supposedly, he refered to them as being saucer-like in movements, and that was confused by a hurried newspaper writer.

[Qwerty 42]

from a literary perspective, it's also hard to imagine something more unlike our current airplanes that still looks "sleek" than a disc.

[PainRack]

supposedly, he refered to them as being saucer-like in movements, and that was confused by a hurried newspaper writer.

The term flying saucer came from the movement yes, however, he also described them as flat, circular discs. I can't see how that fails to look like a saucer.