The Avrocar project was an attempt by Avro Canada and the U.S. military to utilize the Coandă effect in order to achieve vertical take off and flight. The craft looked like a flying saucer and was powered by a “turbo rotor” that had it’s exhaust ducted out of the sides, which was then used in an early form of thrust vectoring to power the airframe around. Originally designed at first to be a fighter-type aircraft, the Avrocar performed poorly and the USAF abandoned it. The U.S. Army then picked up the program, envisioning the Avrocar in a position that was a cross between the Jeep and a helicopter. Unfortunately, the Avrocar couldn’t live up to the demands of that challenger, either, and the project was abandoned for good in late 1961. While the program itself was a failure, due to poor performance and the design’s ability to roast the pilot with exhaust gases, the idea behind it was sound for a different type of vehicle, the hovercraft.
In this video you will see the Army and Avrocar testing out movement and vectoring in free flight. Notice just how far off the deck the craft is? Three feet was the maximum amount of altitude the Avrocar could safely achieve. Which is a shame, because the idea of a flying saucer working around military bases in the early 1960’s would be comical. The amount of phone calls alone claiming an alien flew over there house would be staggering.
What’s interesting about this is that it’s a diversion away from the fully functioning flying saucers using Nazi technology that were regularly being flown and tested.by the US air force.
That explains why it’s basically crap – its only meant to be a red herring!
Did you mean the captured Horton HO-229? That one wasn’t quite a flying saucer, but it’s pretty close. Unfortunately, the thing was made of wood, and somebody stuffed it in a poorly built wooden crate and left it outside for a couple decades. There’s some information on its current status here:
http://www.hortenconservation.com/
And these guys are trying to build an operational replica:
http://www.hortenwings.com/
The Avrocar would be great for sparking a ton of conspiracy theories if you took it out for a joyride and buzzed a beach with it, but the Horton wouldn’t do too badly at causing a bunch of “flying saucer sightings”, either.