Overview
This entry covers a gallery image that appears to depict a disc-shaped aircraft associated with alleged German World War II-era experimental aircraft programmes. The image is included in a legacy compilation of images catalogued under the CIA-P2 identifier system, but its provenance, date, authenticity, and relationship to any specific historical programme cannot be verified from the image alone.
Claims about German disc-shaped aircraft — sometimes called "Nazi flying saucers" — have circulated in fringe aviation literature and UFOlogy communities for decades. These claims typically attribute advanced VTOL or anti-gravity technology to wartime German engineers, often associated with figures such as Rudolf Schriever, Richard Miethe, or the Horton brothers. However, no credible primary-source documentation has ever confirmed the existence of operational German disc-shaped aircraft, and mainstream aviation historians regard most such claims as postwar fabrications or misidentifications.
Historical Context: German Experimental Aircraft
Germany did pursue a wide range of unconventional aircraft designs during World War II, including:
-
The Horten Ho 229: A jet-powered flying-wing fighter-bomber designed by Reimar and Walter Horten. Three prototypes were built, and the design showed promising stealth characteristics due to its flying-wing shape and wood-composite construction. The Ho 229 V3 prototype was captured by American forces and is now in the collection of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
-
The Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri: A synchropter (intermeshing-rotor) helicopter that was the first production helicopter in the world.
-
The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet: A rocket-powered interceptor that was the fastest aircraft of World War II.
-
The Bachem Ba 349 Natter: A vertically-launched rocket interceptor.
None of these aircraft were disc-shaped. The disc-shaped aircraft claims that circulate in fringe literature are not supported by surviving German documentation, photographs, or physical evidence.
The Nazi Flying Saucer Mythology
The claim that Nazi Germany developed disc-shaped aircraft originated in the early postwar period and was popularised by authors such as Rudolf Lusar (German Secret Weapons of World War II, 1957) and Giuseppe Belluzzo, an Italian engineer who claimed in 1950 to have worked on a German disc project. Subsequent writers, including Ernst Zündel and Henry Stevens, expanded the mythology with increasingly sensational claims involving anti-gravity propulsion, exotic energy sources, and even extraterrestrial technology.
Mainstream historians and aviation researchers have consistently found these claims to be unsupported by credible evidence. The claims typically rely on:
- Unverifiable eyewitness testimony
- Documents of dubious origin
- Conflation of real German aircraft programmes (such as the Horten flying wings) with fictional disc projects
- Postwar science-fiction and UFOlogy literature
No disc-shaped German aircraft has ever been found in captured German records, in Allied technical intelligence reports, or in physical form.
Provenance and Authenticity Concerns
The image in question cannot be verified as an authentic photograph of a real German aircraft. Several concerns apply:
- Source unknown: The image's original source, photographer, date, and location are not documented in the gallery metadata.
- No corroboration: The image does not match any known, verified photograph of German experimental aircraft.
- Possible misattribution: The image may depict a postwar experimental aircraft (such as the Avrocar), a model, a mock-up, or a non-German aircraft that has been misattributed.
- Fringe literature circulation: Images of this type have circulated in fringe aviation and UFOlogy literature for decades, often with no verifiable provenance.
Without independent verification of the image's origin, date, and subject, no claim about its authenticity or its relationship to German aircraft programmes can be made.
Declassification and Provenance
This image is from a legacy compilation whose CIA-P2 catalog number is a legacy identifier and does not establish CIA authorship, declassification, or provenance. The image's presence in the compilation does not constitute evidence that the depicted object is a real German aircraft, that the photograph was taken during World War II, or that the image has been verified by any intelligence agency.
The image should be treated as an unverified historical artefact of unknown origin and uncertain subject matter. No claim about German disc-shaped aircraft should be made on the basis of this image.
References
- Lusar, Rudolf. German Secret Weapons of World War II. Citadel Press, 1957 (a primary source for many fringe claims, but not a reliable historical reference).
- Myhra, David. German Flying Saucers vs. the USAF. Schiffer Publishing (examines the claims critically).
- Shepelev, Andrei and Ottens, Huub. Horten Ho 229: An Illustrated History of the Stealth Fighter. Classic Publications.
- Smith, Henry. German Flying Saucers. (Fringe literature, cited for context only.)
- National Air and Space Museum. "Horten Ho 229 V3." Smithsonian Institution.