How the
V-7-Legend arose

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Unidentified flying objects were sighted occasionally during World War II; they flew closely behind the fighting factions' bombers and briefly pursued them. The flying objects were named “Foo Fighters”. The Allies assumed they were dealing with a secret German weapon, while the Germans thought they were an American or Russian secret weapon.

After the war the Allies began delving into extensive documents they had confiscated, which related to German secret weaponry said to have been developed and tested by Germany during the war. The problem of the “Foo Fighters” appeared to be resolved. The “flying saucers” sighted until that time were German secret weapons. What should one believe about all this?

The German so-called “flying tops” or "Foo Fighters," allegedly were flying machines capable of taking off and landing vertically. As well, they could fly either horizontally at exceptionally high speeds, or for that matter, in at any direction or angle by virtue of a rotary disk system, which revolved around a stationary central hull. It is reasonable to assume that such a device would be of interest for military deployment. Purportedly, these “flying tops” achieved horizontal Mach 2 to 2.3 acceleration in 1944 and were capable of climbing to an altitude of 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) in approximately 2 minutes.


To this day there is infighting about if the prototypes described by Klein, Miethe and Schriever, for example, were really capable of flight. While a group of people involved in the subject consider it fully possible, others came to the conclusion that these vehicles are technically impossible since the necessary demands of the centrifugal and acceleration forces claimed exceed the strength of the materials available at that time. Furthermore the equipment with high grade technics (drive trains) was impossible due to the universal materiel shortages.

One (not mentioned by name) critic of the Flugkreisel subject  expressed himself very negatively on the entire subject in an edition of the magazine Luftfahrt International (Nr. 9, May/June 1975). His technological reservations represent a sort of summation for other critics of the German Flying Disc Mythos:

The whole story is incorrect from every angle. It is in fact highly unbelievable and would in all likelihood have died out in the 50s if, at that time, a technician had paid closer attention to this strange conception and done a few calculations. It would quickly have become evident that with the claimed 1800 rpm incredibly tremendous centrifugal acceleration forces would manifest themselves, forces that in this order of magnitude (26,200 g) are only known in experienced with armaments and even there only experienced with small caliber ammunitions. With a weight of 560 kg (BMW 003) of the propulsion unit, massive bolts of high tensile steel would be needed to mount the turbine, which, assuming equal distribution, would require a diameter of 142 mm for a two point attachment and still 116 mm diameter even for a three point one. This enormously heavy suspension would only suffice for a jet drive system at rest, not one in operation! The saucer conceived by Schriever could thus not be realized in the planned configuration. In addition there a more reasons making it impossible. With an operational weight of approximately 3 tons, Schriever and his co-workers would have required about 2 tons of high grade material, numerous instruments and no less than five jet drive assemblies.

At that time there were materiel and engine shortages that could not be alleviated with money alone or even organized. Whoever wanted to carry out such a project then, had to officially submit his list of requirements with the appropriate justification and only then, if approved, received the necessary authorization papers for procurement.  In every case the responsible offices received notification of the new project and it was documented. Despite all the confusions of war the files of Speer’s Ministry remained fully intact , as well as the so-called ‘MilchTalks’ (named after Field Marshall Erich Milch, the man responsible for aircraft production at the time) and the war diaries of the various armaments commands containing incredibly detailed reports about raw materiel distribution, staffing, projects progress etc. Strangely enough none of these document collections, of which the Milch Talks alone amount to over 40,000 pages and the war diary of Rüstungs Kommando VII which covers the period 15.8.1939 - 31.12.1944 without a gap, contain even the slightest indication  of Schriever’s Flugkreisel, Miethe’s Flugscheibe or the V 7 Flakmine. In other words none of these apparatuses existed; they were neither built, nor much less, flown. 

The newspapers generally made mention of two different models - the “Foo Fighters” and the flak-mine known as the "V7". They were built by flight captain  Rudolf Schriever and a doctor of engineering, Richard Miethe.

Schriever, according to reports, produced the first of these “Foo Fighters” in Prague, the capital of former Czechoslovakia. However, his creation was never flown. Under adventurous circumstances he had to flee from Prague with all his blueprints in hand. He penetrated the American lines and reached the Bayrischer Wald [Bavarian Forest], where he found refuge as a farmhand among the local farmers. Returning to the farm one day, he discovered his quarters had been completely ransacked. From the time Schriever read reports about “flying saucers” appearing over American skies several years later, he felt certain he knew into whose hands his blueprints had fallen.

Dr. Miethe, the former V-weapons engineer declared:

I venture to say that the flying disks, if they are circling in the sky, were constructed in Germany according to my directions, and then were probably copied on a large scale by the Soviets.

The “Foo Fighters” Miethe had developed were a disk-shaped advanced development of the V-weaponry. The "V7" flak-mine had an alleged range of 21,000 kilometers [13,000 miles]. Hitler decided too late to mass-produce these "V7" units and, therefore, they never saw action.

Many discrepancies were discovered in the countless press reports about these secret German weapons. Here are but a few examples: One source reported that Schriever's “Foo Fighter” was built in 1942, while various others quote the year as 1941. Another source even provided a precise construction date: July 15, 1941.

More intriguing is the claim by chief engineer Georg Klein that on February 14, 1945, he witnessed the maiden flight of this aircraft. According to Schriever, however, the unit never even left the ground because it was destroyed before its maiden flight. Furthermore, in the addendum of the 8th Air Fleet war log, a weather report dated February 14, 1945, states that at the time of the alleged maiden flight, extremely low clouds, rain, snow, and poor visibility enveloped the region. These poor weather conditions would not permit the takeoff of such a revolutionary flying device's first voyage. With a solid cloud cover ranging from 8/10 to 10/10 a mere 400 to 800 meters [1200 - 2400 ft.] above the ground, the flying device would have been out of sight almost immediately after takeoff.

The entire story about German “flying tops” remains highly unbelievable, therefore, because of the weather and also for technological production reasons.

To achieve the 1000 rpm turbine speed mentioned in the description of the disks, a centripetal acceleration of 26,200 G magnitude of acceleration would be required, which is normally only encountered in small-calibre projectile weapons technology. The mounting of the BMW 003 turbine weighing 560 kg or 1,234 lb would require massive and extremely strong steel bolts with a diameter of approximately 140 mm [5.5"]. This extremely heavy mounting assembly would only have been sufficient to support the turbojet engine when it was stationary! Once operational, the turbojet engine would create a bending moment of 110,000 kilopond-meters (kp-m) [1,079,000 Newton-meters or 796,000 lb-ft]. This bending moment was apparently not considered in the design of the actual functional unit and, therefore, it was not practicable to produce as designed.

For the unit's flight weight of approximately 3 tons, Shriever would have required 2 tons of extremely high quality metal, countless instruments and five jet engines --- while at the time the "procurement" of these unusual materials and engines was unattainable for him. They could only have been requisitioned through official channels with the required paperwork itemizing all specifications and justifications. The appropriate agency was informed and a file set up for it. The documentation was preserved intact by Speer’s government agency in spite of wartime confusion, and it included superbly detailed information about raw material distribution, personnel activities, project leadership, etc. It is worth noting that the complete, uninterrupted written documentation for the period between August 15, 1939 and December 31, 1944, makes no mention whatsoever about the German “Foo Fighters."

Hence, Schriever's “Foo Fighter”, never did get off the ground, and the "V7" developed by Dr. Miethe was never put into service. Assuming the Americans or Soviets did indeed seize the blueprints of these German “saucer developers,” neither power could have developed such flying devices in a mere two-year period, when the first unknown flying objects appeared en masse. Furthermore, American bomber crews had previously observed unknown flying objects over Germany throughout World War II.

In conclusion, it appears that no German “Foo Fighters” or “flying disks” were built or flown. There is nothing to indicate that the unknown flying objects (UFOs), which had been observed for years, were advanced American or Russian modifications of Germany's secret weaponry.

Sources:

"Fliegende Untertassen" by R. Strehl -- Oldenkott-Rees
"Luftfahrt International", Nr. 9, May-June 1975
"Die deutschen Waffen und Geheimwaffen des 2. Weltkrieges und ihre Weiterentwicklung" by R. Lusar, J.F. Lehmanns Verlag
"Untertassen - Flieger - Kombination", Der Spiegel, March 30, 1950
"Flugkreisel, irdisch", Heim & Welt, #14, April 2, 1950
"Erste Flugscheibe flog 1945 in Prag", Interview with Chief Engineer Klein, Welt am Sonntag, April 25, 1953
"Wunderwaffen 45", Bild am Sonntag, February 17, 1957
"Die UFOs - eine deutsche Erfindung", Das neue Zeitalter, #41, October 5, 1957
"Deutsche UFOs schon 1947/48 einwandfrei beobachtet", Das neue Zeitalter", #6, February 6, 1965

 


Potential powerplants of disc-shaped aircraft. Actual powerplants built and tested.

 

We can take a look at the potential powerplants that could\would\were used on German disc-shaped aircraft. What were the general demands? High power output, light weight, size and maximum speed that could be achieved.


Piston engines:

 


DB 603 L

The most common powerplant of the time. Many companies such as Daimler-Benz, Heinkel, Siemens-Halske, BMW and Argus produced piston engines of high horsepower ratings, novelties like super- and turbocharging as well as fuel injection got the performance up dramatically as well as reliability. The disadvantage was relatively large weight, many critical demands such as cooling and air for combustion, as well as the ability to only work in the atmosphere and only axial output meaning that piston egines were arrested by propellers and fans. Aircraft powered by piston engines had a top speed of around 800-900 kmph and even that was the most upper limit for record-breaking aircraft even today.

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Turbojet and ramjet engines

 

This kind of engines used the atmosphere around them in which they burned usually diesel fuel to make huge amounts of thrust. Turbojets were used on the worlds first torbojet fighter the Messerschmitt 262, which was also the world`s first supersonic aircraft. The turbojets opened the gates to high-efficiency supersonic flight, but were limited to just over 1 Mach during WW2, and like piston engines were limited by working only in the atmosphere, thus an aircraft powered by them would never go orbital or in space.


They could be fitted anywhere, had a very light weight and a relatively better output than piston engines, however shaft power could be extracted.


Ramjets were like turbojets, but with no moving parts and a maximum theoretical speed of 25 Mach, but Germany experimented with subsonic ramjets only.

 

Rocket engines

 

These are the only known powerplants to achieve high supersonic speeds in WW2 Germany. The engine that powered the A4 produced 25 tons of thrust. This engine is the only one that had the potential to launch anything into space, and the only engine that could actually operate in space.

 


UFOs may be scout craft from an interstellar mothership. UFOs may have come here through a "door" from another dimension or from a hidden location somewhere on Earth, within the Earth or from under the sea. But there is a common denominator: most UFOs appear to be aircraft rather than spacecraft.


There is plenty of evidence that German scientists/engineers constructed a craft which looks like two plates joined rim to rim. This is called a flying disc or you can call it a flying saucer. It is an atmospheric craft. It does not travel into space above the atmosphere (the air zone which surrounds the Earth), nor do we know of any flying disc which came from above the atmosphere. (This has nothing to do with UFOs from outer space.)

We know and we can infer from the personnel that worked at the projects, that the German flying discs were equipped with turbo-jets. Their motion was like that of a frisbee: it spins and at the same time it moves forewards. How, apparently nobody knows, or does not wish to say.

The V-7 could be used only for short missions, since it had to carry its own gas fuel for the propulsions, unless they used the air technology with which in 1940 the Italian had attained tremendous speeds: the air is fed in by the moving craft; it does not have to be carried in the crafts.