A flying saucer (also known as a flying disc) is a descriptive term for a supposed type of flying ship having a disk or body in the shape of a saucer, commonly used generically to refer to an anomalous flying object. The term was coined in 1930 but has generally been supplanted since 1952 by the term of the United States Air Force that does not identify flying objects or UFOs. Early observations of unknown "flying saucers" generally described them as silvery or metallic, sometimes as covered with navigation lights or surrounded by bright light, moving or moving rapidly, alone or in tight formations with other similar craft, maneuverability.
While disc-shaped flying objects have been interpreted as sporadically recorded since the Middle Ages, the first recorded use of the term "flying saucer" for an unidentified flying object was to describe a probable meteorite that fell on Texas and Oklahoma on 17 June, 1930. "Some who saw the strange light described it as a huge comet, a flaming flying saucer, a great red glow, a fireball." The highly publicized sighting by Kenneth Arnold on June 24, 1947, resulted in the popularity of the term "flying saucer" by American newspapers. Although Arnold never specifically used the term "flying saucer", he was quoted at that time as saying that the shape of the objects he saw was like a "saucer", "disc", and several years later he also said " They moved like saucers jumping through the water. " Both the terms "flying saucer" and "flying saucer" were commonly used interchangeably in the media until the early 1950s.
Arnold's sighting was followed by thousands of similar sightings around the world. Such sightings were once very common, to such an extent that the "flying saucer" was a synonym for the UFO through the 1960s before it began to fall out of favor. A lot of UFO sightings in cigar form were reported after it. More recently, the flying saucer has been largely supplanted by other UFO-related alleged vehicles, such as the Black Triangle. The term UFO was, in fact, invented in 1952, to try to reflect the broader diversity of forms that are seen. However, unknown objects such as saucers are still known, as in the widely publicized sighting of Chicago-O'Hare Airport in 2006.
Many of the alleged flying saucer photographs of the era are now thought to be jokes. The flying saucer is now considered largely an icon of the 1950s and B-movies in particular, and is a popular theme in comic science fiction.
Beyond the common usage of the phrase, there has also been an artifact similar to an artificial saucer. The first discus disc was called the Discopter and was patented by Alexander Weygers in 1944. Other designs have followed, such as the Vought V-173 / XF5U American "Flying Flapjack", the flying saucer British GFS Projects or the British "SAUCER" ("Saucer Aircraft Using Coanda Effect Reactions") flying saucer, by the inventor Alf Beharie.
It can be understood in the following video: