Lexicon · Concept

flying saucer

Flying saucer is a popular term for disc-shaped flying objects of unknown origin that spread in the wake of the 1947 American sightings.

The flying saucer is a colloquial term for a disc- or saucer-shaped flying object of unknown origin. The concept is one of the best-known symbols of the modern UFO phenomenon, although the shapes of the reported objects actually vary widely.

Origin of the term

The term became widely known in Summer 1947. On June 24, 1947, American pilot Kenneth Arnold reported nine unusually fast-flying objects near Mount Rainier in Washington State. According to press reports, he described the objects' motion as if a flat stone were skipping across the surface of water. The papers turned this into "flying saucer" headlines, and the term spread quickly, even though Arnold himself described and drew flat, mostly crescent-shaped objects. Two weeks later, a press release from the Roswell air base was already reporting the recovery of a "flying disc."

What proponents claim

According to proponents of the saucer hypothesis, the disc-shaped objects may be controlled craft of extraterrestrial origin. From the 1950s on, several contactee movements also attached themselves to this image. The best known of them was George Adamski, who claimed in 1952 that he had met a passenger of a saucer.

Official and skeptical position

Investigations by U.S. authorities, such as Project Blue Book, did not establish that the sightings could be linked to alien craft. According to skeptics, the disc-shaped descriptions can largely be explained by cultural influence. In the weeks following Arnold's account, most of the incoming reports already described disc-shaped objects, even though Arnold himself had not seen a disc. According to many analysts, this shows that the image spreading in the press shaped the sightings. Later, popular culture, especially science fiction films and comic books, further reinforced what a UFO "should" look like. According to skeptics, many sightings can be traced back to misidentified natural phenomena, aircraft or balloons.

Today researchers mostly avoid the term "flying saucer" and use the more neutral designation UFO or UAP instead.

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