Canada made a flyinig saucer in the late 1950's

[bluebird]

These videos are amazing. The amount of precision mechanical engineering is mind boggling.
Commissioned by the US Air Force for troop and supply transport.
The "Avrocar" never was able to transition into flight from vertical take off and maneuvering. Never could get above 3 feet and 35 mph.
But still amazing. The Canadian Avro company was dismantled by the Canadian government in 1959 (whole other story)...

Build video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAIc6bmm6W4

Test Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opD86VZSWpo

 

[ruffrecords]

Cool.

Cheers

Ian

 

[pucho812]

must have been loud in the cockpit

 

[Tubetec]

The Canadians have a few smaller single turbine ducted fan drones designed for survailence and evesdropping,
they might have been a spin-off from the Avro idea . Of course now with miniturisation and composite materials they dont even need to be manned craft , electric propulsion is neat but turbine power gives greater range and longer times in the air , I cant seem to find a picture of the one in use by law enforcement but you will find pics of a few rescue craft in current useage.
My uncle who lives in Canada is an avid RC fan for more than 60 years , the rules there are so strict now you have to file flight plans in advance with the aviation authority to operate autonomous drones, theres always a chance a crafty member of the public will do back what the government is doing to its citizens so they tend to want to keep a tight hold on the technology with tons of red tape .

 

[user 37518]

I love it how the pilot wears his oxigen mask and he is 3 feet above ground.

 

[CJ]

while at UC Davis there was a top secret company in town building mysterious vehicles,

probably just a professor hustling funds, never got of the ground, maybe it flew for a little while, people claimed they saw a flying saucer but there was a lot of acid and bad weed going around back then,

 

[Tubetec]

I spoke to someone recently who swears they were surveyed by a law enforcement drone here in Ireland , It flew in quite close, loitered for a few minutes ,then vanished , moments later a squad car rolled up on them , searched the two people under misuse of drugs legislation and said that they had recieved a report of people acting suspiciously in the area  , they found nothing in the end but did appear  to acknowledge a drone had been operating in the area . Hard to know for sure but it seems doubtful theres any legislation underpining their use , could be just a few cops taking their own initiative to profile and acquire targets remotely .
Hopefully the people in charge of policing reform here are willing to take account of what these technologies can be used to do and put proper frameworks in place governing their usage .

 

[Rybow]

How cool is that!! Imagine what Avro could have achieved today if they weren’t dismantled. If I remember correctly, the Avro Arrow was the most advanced fighter for its time.

I really got to get on learning some Canadian history