Top aerospace firms Lockheed and Ryan Aeronautical both had designs for their own flying saucers. In 1953 engineer Nathan C. Price filed two patents on behalf of Lockheed for supersonic, VTOL capable, circular-wing aircraft. The Ryan Aeronautical saucer concept was particularly intriguing as it was intended to be a craft capable of leaving the Earth’s atmosphere utilizing a combination chemical and electric propulsion system. During the 1950s there was talk in the aerospace industry about the...

Almost 30 years before Bob Lazar’s claims about the so-called ’Sport Model’ first appeared, the aerospace division of a Californian Aerospace company by the name of Ryan Aeronatical was already working on this concept: “Illustration of an aerospace vehicle which incorporates an aero-electric propulsion system features circular disk configuration.” The aim of this aerospace concept vehicle was to produce a craft capable of operating from ground-level right through to orbital flight. In their F...