Haydn
2016-01-01 20:03:44 UTC
In a newly published, highly interesting book on the 1940-43 Malta
campaign, I find this little story hitherto entirely unknown to me.
In 1942, the Italian Senator and engineer Giuseppe Belluzzo, a key
figure in the development of contemporary Italian Navy turbine engines,
brought forth an innovative idea on how to effectively hit Malta while
cutting own losses to zero.
The project consisted in mass-producing duralumin flying saucers, 18
meters wide and carrying a 2 ton high explosive payload, propelled by
three pulse-jet engines and guided by an autopilot system. The saucer
would have lacked any degree of aiming accuracy and the circular error
probability would have been wild, hence the mass production and
employment to saturate British defenses and stand some real chances of
hitting something valuable militarily.
Mussolini O.K.ed work on prototypes, which began almost immediately, but
the project never ranked high on the list of priorities and soon it
lagged. In spring 1943 Belluzzi was authorized to take his blueprint and
his experiences to Germany, also because while the Italian industry
could produce single parts of the pulse jets, only the Germans had the
know-how and the technology to assemble war-worthy jet engines. Belluzzi
knocked at the door of the SS, who were then supporting the Horten
"flying wing" concept. However, neither the Wehrmacht nor the SS
displayed any serious interest in the flying saucer idea, which
eventually was quietly dropped. Belluzzi's files and documents, left in
German hands, were lost in the 1945 maelstrom.
Interestingly enough, in June 1944 Belluzzi (who had not joined
Mussolini's Republic) was contacted by the US Navy, apparently more
interested in the flying saucers than the Germans had been, to get from
him technical information about those devices.
Haydn
campaign, I find this little story hitherto entirely unknown to me.
In 1942, the Italian Senator and engineer Giuseppe Belluzzo, a key
figure in the development of contemporary Italian Navy turbine engines,
brought forth an innovative idea on how to effectively hit Malta while
cutting own losses to zero.
The project consisted in mass-producing duralumin flying saucers, 18
meters wide and carrying a 2 ton high explosive payload, propelled by
three pulse-jet engines and guided by an autopilot system. The saucer
would have lacked any degree of aiming accuracy and the circular error
probability would have been wild, hence the mass production and
employment to saturate British defenses and stand some real chances of
hitting something valuable militarily.
Mussolini O.K.ed work on prototypes, which began almost immediately, but
the project never ranked high on the list of priorities and soon it
lagged. In spring 1943 Belluzzi was authorized to take his blueprint and
his experiences to Germany, also because while the Italian industry
could produce single parts of the pulse jets, only the Germans had the
know-how and the technology to assemble war-worthy jet engines. Belluzzi
knocked at the door of the SS, who were then supporting the Horten
"flying wing" concept. However, neither the Wehrmacht nor the SS
displayed any serious interest in the flying saucer idea, which
eventually was quietly dropped. Belluzzi's files and documents, left in
German hands, were lost in the 1945 maelstrom.
Interestingly enough, in June 1944 Belluzzi (who had not joined
Mussolini's Republic) was contacted by the US Navy, apparently more
interested in the flying saucers than the Germans had been, to get from
him technical information about those devices.
Haydn