Secrets of Antigravity Propulsion by Ph.D. Paul A. LaViolette Page B

the tempo of development leading to the use of antigravitational vehicles would accelerate and that breakthroughs that had become feasible at that time would advance the introduction of such vehicles ahead of the time it had taken to develop the turbojet. 33 That same issue predicted that government procurement would open up “because the capabilities of such aircraft are immeasurably greater than those envisaged with any known form of engine.”
    On October 15, 1955, the Department of Defense issued a news release informing the public that some government aircraft under development could resemble flying saucers. Secretary of the Air Force Donald A. Quarles stated:
    . . . we are now entering a period of aviation technology in which aircraft of unusual configuration and flight characteristics will begin to appear . . . The Air Force and other Armed Services have under development several vertical-rising, high performance aircraft . . . Vertical-rising aircraft capable of transition to supersonic horizontal flight will be a new phenomenon in our skies, and under certain conditions could give the illusion of the so-called flying saucer. 34
    Although Quarles did not refer to any unconventional propulsion technology, it may be no coincidence that just one year earlier the Pentagon had begun plans to fund the development of Brown’s electrogravitics technology. To camouflage the truly exotic nature of the project, the news release called attention to the disc-shaped AVRO car, developed by AVRO Ltd. of Canada. The AVRO car was an ill-conceived vehicle that used a conventional air turbine that was ducted to provide vertical lift. Unfortunately, its design was inherently unstable; it had the persistent tendency to flip over after rising just a few feet off the ground.
    The November 1955 issue of
Aviation Report
acknowledges the key role that the Aviation Studies newsletter played in catalyzing the development of the electrogravitics industry:
    E LECTROGRAVITICS F EASIBILITY
    The feasibility of a Mach 3 fighter (the present aim in studies) is dependent on a rather large K extrapolation, considering the pair of saucers that have physically demonstrated the principle only achieved a speed of some 30 fps [feet per second]. But, and this is important, they have attained a working velocity using a very inefficient (even by to-day’s knowledge) form of condenser complex . . .
    It was, by the way, largely due to the early references in Aviation Report that work is gathering momentum in the U.S. Similar studies are beginning in France, and in England some men are on the job full time.
    Aviation Report
, November 15, 1955 35
    Later that month, Ansel Talbert, military and aviation editor for the
New York Herald Tribune
, published a series of articles on the aviation industry’s interest in gravity control. On November 20, he wrote:
    A number of major, long-established companies in the United States aircrafts and electronics industries also are involved in gravity research. Scientists in general, bracket gravity with life itself as the greatest unsolved mystery in the Universe. But there are increasing numbers who feel that there must be a physical mechanism for its propagation which can be discovered and controlled. Should this mystery be solved it would bring about a greater revolution in power, transportation, and many other fields than even the discovery of atomic power. The influence of such a discovery would be of tremendous import in the field of aircraft design where the problem of fighting gravity’s effects has always been basic. 36
    Talbert’s article displayed a photo of two General Dynamics Convair Division scientists conducting a research experiment aimed at controlling gravity. It showed them facing an apparatus supported on pillars that was wired with electrical connections. In an article dated November 21, Talbert named six other firms that were involved in such studies:
    Aircraft industry firms now participating or