avrocar 4.avr.00200 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Project Silverbug was a code name given to an experimental saucer-shaped aircraft in the 1950s built by Avro Aircraft Ltd. in Malton, Ontario, Canada for the US military. The high security surounding the project led to conjecture that the Americans were using the cover of Project Silverbug to test alien craft that they had captured.
Contents
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* 1 Avro's Special Project Group
* 2 Project Y
* 3 US Military involvement
* 4 Project Y-2
* 5 Summary
* 6 External Links
* 7 Relevant Discussion Threads

Avro's Special Project Group

One of the key engineers at Avro Aircraft was John Carver Meadows "Jack" Frost who had joined Avro Canada (the commonly used name for the aircraft company) in June 1947 after working for several British firms. He had been with de Havilland since 1942 and had worked on the de Havilland Vampire jet fighter and the D.H.108 Swallow experimental supersonic aircraft. At Avro Canada, he had worked on the Avro CF-100 before starting on a flying disc design in a research team known as the "Special Projects Group."

Shortly after its formation, the Special Projects Group started researching vertical take-off and landing capability (VTOL) with emphasis on a paper study Frost had labelled the "pancake" engine, a jet turbine that had its main componets arranged in a circular design. From the outset, the Special Projects Group had a cloak-and-dagger feel to it. Housed in a Second World War-era structure, across from the company headquarters, the group had all the accoutrements of a top-secret operation, including security guards, locked doors and special pass cards. Within the confines of this technical fortress, Frost surrounded himself with a collection of like-minded dreamers and maverick engineers. There he encouraged close cooperation and, while ostensibly the boss, he was collegial and very much one of the boys.
Project Y

In 1952, the Avro Special Projects team began research and development work on a series of VTOL designs, known initially as "Project Y." The first of these proposed aircraft was a "spade-shaped" fighter intended to be powered by Frost’s revolutionary pancake engine. Named Project Y, this craft was designed to sit on its tail, and promised, in theory, at least, VTOL capabilities, climb rates to the tune of 100,000 feet per minute and speeds up to 1,500 mph. Project Y, funded by the company and the Canadian government, proceeded to the mock-up stage. By 1953, with the company having little more than a wooden mockup, paper drawings and promises to show for a $4-million (Cdn) outlay, a more critical eye was cast on the project. Not surprisingly, the plug got pulled when government funding from the Defence Research Board dried up.
US Military involvement

Frost wouldn't accept defeat; in addition to being a gifted designer, he was also a talented promoter and salesman. In late 1953, a group of U.S. defence experts visited Avro Canada to view the new CF-100 fighter jet. Somewhere along the way, Frost co-opted the tour and rerouted it to the Special Projects area where he proceeded to show off his mockup, models and drawings (some never before seen by senior company officials) for a completely circular disk-shaped aircraft known as "Project Y-2."

The USAF agreeing to take over funding for Frost's Special Projects Group and with American dollars rolling in, Project Y-2 received a new moniker -"Project 1794"- and a new lease on life. Frost and his team began pursuing a real flying saucer, one that would have advanced weapon systems and produce speeds in excess of Mach 2.
Project Y-2

Project Silver Bug was the American "Black" project version of the Avro Aircraft Canada Y-2 undertaken by the United States Air Force in 1953. Project Y-2 was begun by the Canadian John Frost, who was apparently in the loop on Nazi Saucer programs and was quite fascinated by them.{fact} It involved a "radial flow jet" engine design which was simply radical for the time. As late as 1976 people were copyrighting ideas essentially identical to this 1955 design (see US Patent # 4,193,568). This aircraft was listed as being capable of over 80,000 feet and Mach 3 and able to hover at up to 18,000 ft. without using afterburners. Due to newspaper leaks in the mid-'50s a cover story for the an earlier "Omega" program was leaked to "Look" magazine which, while broadly similar, disinformed the public as to the radical engine (substituting many small conventional jets for the single radial flow) and the control systems to be used.

Later in 1958 Avro Aircraft Ltd. was contracted to build a somewhat similar, small ground-cushion vehicle reminiscent of the "Look" magazine item for the USAF and US Army. I too am convinced that this "Avrocar" was constructed only for disinformation purposes while Y-2 went "Black" as a means of providing the US Gov't with "plausible deniability" and also the possibility of telling those who saw "flying saucers" that it was only that Avro vehicle.

At any rate, the Y-2 later Silver Bug item was an entirely other matter. It clearly DID go Black and the incredible performance projected by educated engineers for it really prove WHY it has been such a secret. The saucer shape give natural "all aspect" stealth, the radial flow engine was capable of producing incredible thrust in an aerodynamically appealing shape, and the vertical take off and landing abilities gave the US the possibility of underground basing. All of these features provided the possibility of "Cold War" winning technology in the 1950's! Clearly they didn't want the Soviets possessing any or suspecting their existence until they developed technology that could reasonably be expected to counter "stealth."

The strongest evidence that Avro built something to resemble Y-2 comes from 5.4 million dollars spent on Avro's own "Private Venture 704" including about 2 million dollars from the USA up to 1957. The Avrocar project was commenced after this time and used only 4 million or so to completion. Avro stated themselves that the first step in responding challenge of developing the Y-2 was to build the engine and the control duct system. Clearly this is where the first 5.4 million dollars went. http://34819louis0j0sheehan0esquire.wordpress.com With all that money came rumors and the Avrocar would be a great way to dispel them.

Meanwhile with the Avrocar, the project used a much less sophisticated arrangement in a much slower and lower flying design. http://34819louis0j0sheehan0esquire.wordpress.com It did prove the control system devised for the Y-2/PV 704/Silver Bug and provided publicly acceptable "proof" of the flying saucer design. It was also used to proved "proof" that the concept was UNFEASABLE!

The initial test flights revealed it was underpowered, unstable and could not transition to proper forward flight. Interestingly, recent films show the solved the instability problem. There is testimony on the record that they also finished doing modifications required to allow the craft to transition to forward flight (after which it was expected to be capable of 300 mph). http://34819louis0j0sheehan0esquire.wordpress.com This is the date the US money disappeared and the project was terminated with all drawings, tooling, and flying examples taken to the USA. The examples at Wright Patterson and in the Smithsonian are NOT the final Avrocar version but early development models that were far from successful. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire