WILD HISTORY FACTS

Title: Wild History Fact: In 1952, the U.S. Air Force seriously considered building a supersonic flying saucer.

Did you know history includes plans for a real-life flying saucer? In the heat of the Cold War, the U.S. Air Force greenlit a top-secret project called “Avrocar” in 1952, contracting the Canadian company Avro Canada to design a saucer-shaped aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and supersonic speeds. The goal? To build a futuristic craft that could outmaneuver Soviet bombers and navigate rugged terrain without runways.

The result was less “Star Wars,” more “what were they thinking?” The Avrocar hovered only a few feet off the ground during test flights in 1959 and 1961, plagued by instability and chronic overheating. Although it failed to achieve liftoff beyond 3 feet, the U.S. Defense Department poured around $10 million (over $90 million today) into the project before canceling it in 1961. Engineer John Frost once rhetorically asked, “Wouldn’t a saucer make the ideal all-terrain flying vehicle?”

It’s a marvel of weird history: an actual attempt to engineer alien technology before it was cool. What are your favorite “too-strange-to-be-true” moments in history? Share your favorite weird history facts below!