US: Avro Canada Silver Bug Flying Saucer Revealed
In March 1956, Mechanix Illustrated revealed the US Air Force-funded Avro Canada MX-1794 (Silver Bug) VTOL gyroplane project, depicted as a flying saucer on the cover. Avro invested $2.5 million and USAF $5.4 million through 1958 for models, wind-tunnel tests and a multiengine rig.
Background
Project Launch and Public Disclosure
In March 1956, the magazine Mechanix Illustrated published an article about the Avro Canada project MX-1794 (Y-2 or Silver Bug), a vertical take-off gyro aircraft in development for the US Air Force. The cover presented it as "US Air Force Reveals Our Flying Saucer". The design comprised six Armstrong Siddeley Viper turbojets, a large central rotor with Lundstrom compressor turbines, and a cockpit arrangement on top at the centre.
Technical Details and Tests
Control was by eight small outlet nozzles around the outer rim, directed up or down, together with the main engine exhaust at the centre underneath. In 1956 a multi-engine test rig was built, which produced strong thrust, high noise levels, and vibration. Wind tunnel tests took place at MIT and Wright-Patterson AFB, running to over 1,000 hours by 1958. By then 2.5 million dollars from Avro and 5.4 million from the USAF had gone into the project.
Further Development and Classification
In 1957 the project received additional funding, became highly classified, and was designated Weapon System 606A. It developed into a circular-wing supersonic aircraft combining elements of a flying saucer with a conventional fuselage — a tailless design with round wings. No specific witnesses are named; its significance lies in its proximity to UFO sightings and to debates about declassification.