From: Terry Colvin <fortean1.nul>
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2009 23:56:40 +0700 (GMT+07:00)
Archived: Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:25:27 -0500
Subject: Military Fliers - Flying One-Man Platforms

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http://www.ufoinfo.com/humanoid/humanoid1910.shtml

Location. Aldeburgh England

Date: 1916
Time: 1155A

Looking out a 2nd story window, Mrs Whitehead saw, a little
above the house (about 20 ft up), a round platform with 8-12
men, who were staring straight ahead & tightly gripping a brass
handrail. They wore blue uniforms & "little hats like sailors."
The object approached slowly from nearby marshes, made a turn, &
disappeared behind nearby houses. The platform was about a foot
thick. The center was "hollow," like a doughnut. No means of
propulsion was evident. Duration, less than 5 minutes.

Humcat 1916-1
Source: Gordon Creighton, FSR 15 # 1
Type: A

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In the Fifties and Sixties there were several attempts at
building flying platforms for military use. The most famous of
these was the Hiller VZ-1 Pawnee, developed in 1954. However,
the 8ft (2.5m) platform could only carry one man to a maximum
height of 33ft (10m) and at a maximum speed of 16mph (25km/h)
using the power of twin ducted fans.

Richard Timewall invented a similar one-man platform in the mid-
Seventies. He sold it as a kit for $5,795 or a bargain $97.50
for the blueprints only. It was powered by four jet engines and
Timewall claimed it had a "ten mile (16km) range, 15-minute
flight time, with a top speed of about 40mph (64km/h)"

Two other claimants for the crown of one-man flying platform
were variations on a theme -- the Williams X-Jet and Williams
Aerial Systems Platform (or WASP), which both looked a bit like
flying pulpits, as the pilot was covered up to waist height.

It's hard to see how any such man-made flying platforms could
have been the cause of the two English (UK) sightings; these
were only ever tested in America, decades later, and none
carried more than two men.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiller_Flying_Platform

http://www.hiller.org/flying-platform.shtml
[VZ-1 Pawnee]


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJARrc40imk

[WASP - Williams Aerial Systems Platform]
[[Les, you'd look good in this flying pulpit]]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHJBvtr0H-E

[Williams X-Jet][Audio is poor quality]


http://www.ufologie.net/ce3/1955-10-18-uk-westhampstead.htm

[UFO floating platform with 30 entities]


Terry W. Colvin
Ladphrao (Bangkok), Thailand
Pran Buri (Hua Hin), Thailand