B00AY88OHE EBOK (4 page)

This all changed in 1999 as a result of research done by Margret Chatwin with an organization called “Informations diesnst gegen Rechtsextremismus” (Information service against the extreme right) (10). Coming in from this perspective, this writer and this organization certainly would not be accused of aggrandizing Landig’s career. Some details of Landig’s biography are now filled in. In that article we learn that Landig, an Austrian, took part in the unsuccessful Vienna Putsch of 1934. Thereafter, he fled to Germany and was inducted into the SD, the SS and the Waffen SS. There he rose to the rank of “Oberschafueher.” Eventually, Landig was detailed to oversee government security concerns and given a position in the Reichs Security Department. Landig, in this position, was assigned to cover the security for the development of “UFOs” (11). It turns out that Landig was not only a source but a great source concerning the development of German saucers.

Returning to unnamed sources, they should never be given the weight as named sources are given. Many times writers use unnamed sources to advance a radically new and fantastic hypothesis in the UFO world. This type of source may sound convincing, given the “secret” nature of the message, but they should only be accepted if they yield new information which can be verified independently. This goes double for unnamed government sources. Government has a history of manipulation of information concerning UFOs and UFO origin theories. One of the most famous was the Majestic 12 or MJ 12 affair which was based on unnamed government sources. This house of card finally fell apart but the real issue before us is why this house of cards, the MJ-12 affair, was ever allowed so much attention in the first place.

Government information should, therefore, never be used as the primary basis for a UFO hypothesis. It should only be used to verify a hypothesis developed, ideally, from multiple, independent sources. Concerning German saucers,this means that information or ideas from German sources might be checked using U.S. or British governmental archives, but not the reverse. Similar assertions given by official records of two different countries is notable. If both United States and British or German governmental sources agree upon something, then something might be said of the assertion. Of course there are those that say this only points to a conspiracy between the two governments to conceal a deeper truth. This may be true in some cases. These are all really judgment calls which the reader will have to make for himself, in the end.

Regarding individual sources cited, an effort will be made to describe the type of evidence each cited reference uses when that information is available.

Sources and References

  1.  Der Spiegel, March 30, 1959, Article and interview of Rudolf Schriever

  2.  Epp, Joseph Andreas, telephone communication and personal letters

  3.  Epp, Joseph Andreas, 1994, Die Realitaet der Flugscheiben Ein Leben fuer eine Idee, EFODON e. V., c/o Gernot L. Geise, Zoepfstrasse 8, D-82405 Wessobrunn, Germany

  4.  Klein, Georg, in Welt Am Sontag, 4/26/53, “Erste Flugscheibe Flog 1945 in Prag

  5.  Zunneck, Karl-Heinz, 1998, pages 120-122

  6.  Lusar, Rudolf, 1960,
German Secret Weapons Of The Second World War
, Neville Spearman, London

  7.  Headquarters, United States Strategic Air Forces In Europe, Office Of The Director Of Intelligence, 1944, report titled: “An Evaluation Of German Capabilities In 1945”

  8.  Coats, Callum, 1996,
Living Energies
, National Book Network, 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, MD. 20706

  9.  Barton, Michael X., 1968,
The German Saucer Story
, Futura Press, 5949 Gregory Ave., Los Angeles, CA. 90038

10.  Chatwin, Margret, 1999, page 1, Ahnenerbe, Ufos, Neonazis: Wilhelm Landig, Informationsdienst gegen Rechtsextremismus,
http://www.idgr.de/

11.  ibid

Above
: The strange phenomena known as foo fighers remains a miltary secret to this day.

A rare photograph, taken by allied crewmen, of foo fighers over Germany in 1943.

A ghost rocket photographed in the skies over Sweden in 1946.

3

CHAPTER THREE

An Overview of the German Conventional Saucer Projects

In this section we will progress from saucer projects with are absolutely factual and of which detail is known and proceed to projects which are less known.

Several types of flying craft we would call flying saucers were built by the Germans during the Second World War. The exact number is still open for debate but it certainly must vary from between three to seven or possibly eight different types. These different types do not mean experimental models or variants, of which there were many. What is meant here is that there were very different lines of flying machines being built in wartime Germany at different places by different groups of people. Since more than one saucer-type may have been produced by a single group, we will review this data group by group. We will progress from saucer projects which are factually better known and which deal in conventional propulsion methods and then move to lesser known projects which deal in more exotic propulsion methods which are less well documented and so more controversial.

Each of these conventional saucer projects will constitute a sub-section with those references following that sub-section.

The Schriever-Habermohl Project(s)

The best known of these projects is usually referred to as the Schriever-Habermohl project although it is by no means clear that these were the individuals in charge of the project. Rudolf Schriever was an engineer and test pilot. Less is known about Otto Habermohl but certainly he was an engineer. This project was centered in Prag, at the Prag-Gbell airport (1)(2). Actual construction work began somewhere between 1941 and 1943 (3)(4). This was originally a Luftwaffe project which received technical assistance from the Skoda Works at Prag and at a Skoda division at Letov (5) and perhaps elsewhere (6). Other firms participating in the project according to Epp were the Junkers firm at Oscheben and Bemburg, the Wilhelm Gustloff firm at Weimar and the Kieler Leichtbau at Neubrandenburg (7). This project started as a project of the Luftwaffe, sponsored by second-in-command, Ernst Udet. It then fell under the control of Speer’s Armament Ministry at which time it was administered by engineer Georg Klein. Finally, probably sometime in 1944, this project came under the control of the SS, specifically under the purview of General Hans Kammler (8).

The Airport at Prag-Gbell
Site of the Schriever and Habermohl Flying Saucer Projects

In the top diagram the hanger which was the site of the research is marked as number 2. The same hanger is indicated in the picture below with an arrow.

According to his own words, Georg Klein saw this device fly on February 14, 1945 (9). This may have been the first official flight, but it was not the first flight made by this device.

According to one witness, a saucer flight occurred as early as August or September of 1943 at this facility. The eyewitness was in flight-training at the Prag-Gbell facility when he saw a short test flight of such a device. He states that the saucer was 5 to 6 meters in diameter (about 15 to 18 feet in diameter) and about as tall as a man, with an outer border of 30-40 centimeters. It was “aluminum” in color and rested on four thin, long legs. The flight distance observed was about 300 meters at low level of one meter in altitude. The witness was 200 meters from the event and one of many students there at the time (10).

Joseph Andreas Epp, an engineer who served as a consultant to both the Schriever-Habermohl and the Miethe-Belluzzo projects, states that fifteen prototypes were built in all (11) (12). The final device associated with Schriever-Habermohl is described by engineer Rudolf Lusar who worked in the German Patent Office, as a central cockpit surrounded by rotating adjustable wing-vanes forming a circle. The vanes were held together by a band at the outer edge of the wheel-like device. The pitch of the vanes could be adjusted so that during take off more lift was generated by increasing their angle from a more horizontal setting. In level flight the angle would be adjusted to a smaller angle. This is similar to the way helicopter rotors operate. The wing-vanes were to be set in rotation by small rockets placed around the rim like a pinwheel. Once rotational speed was sufficient, lift-off was achieved. After the craft had risen to some height the horizontal jets or rockets were ignited and the small rockets shut off (13). After this the wing-blades would be allowed to rotate freely as the saucer moved forward as in an autogyrocopter. In all probability, the wing-blades speed, and so their lifting value, could also be increased by directing the adjustable horizontal jets slightly upwards to engage the blades, thus spinning them faster at the digression of the pilot.

Rapid horizontal flight was possible with these jet or rocket engines. Probable candidates were the Junkers Jumo 004 jet engines such as were used on the famous German jet fighter, the Messerschmitt 262. A possible substitute would have been the somewhat less powerful BMW 003 engines. The rocket engine would have been the Walter HWK109 which powered the Messerschmitt 163 rocket interceptor (14). If all had been plentiful, the Junkers Jumo 004 probably would have been the first choice. Epp reports Jumo 211/b engines were used (15). Klaas reports the Argus pulse jet (Schmidtduct), used on the V-1, was also considered (16). All of these types of engines were difficult to obtain at the time because they were needed for high priority fighters and bombers, the V-1 and the rocket interceptor aircraft.