The subject of this interview was a German pilot who flew many missions in a JU-52, taking off and touching down in rough, presumably outlying airfields. The Junkers JU-52 was an aircraft used by the Luftwaffe for many roles and could be described as a mainstay or a workhorse. It was a transport airplane, a troop carrier and even had been used as a bomber. It resembled and was used in a similar way to the American Douglas Dakota or DC-3.The main difference between the two aircraft was that the JU-52 had three engines as opposed to the Dakota's two and the JU-52lacked a traditional airframe, instead deriving structural strength from a unique corrugated metal shell, which also made the appearance of the JU-52 distinctive.
The sighting in question was reported to the author, Mr. Zunneck, by Horst Schuppmann whose friend knew the pilot of the JU-52 in question. The date was July, 1944. Accompanying the pilot on this three and one-half hour flight was a co-pilot, a mechanic,and the radio man. The airplane took off from Brest-Deblin and flew on a westerly course to Lublin. The flight was unfolding smoothly which was somewhat abnormal for the particular time and stage of the war. Over Stettin Lagoon preparations were made to land. A large white cross was sighted which was the marker for their goal, a meadow landing strip. The aircraft descended, landed normally and rolled toward a group of bushes which would hide the aircraft from view.
Then things took a decided turn to the abnormal. Harsh orders were received that the pilot, co-pilot and mechanic were not to exit the airplane. Suddenly, the radio man had vanished. The others waited an hour in vain for his return. Finally, the pilot decided to get out of the airplane and find his missing crewman,without orders, and on his own.
On the airfield itself nobody was to be seen. There was only one building visible which was a lonely hanger. The pilot, ever concerned with maintaining cover, headed straight for this hanger. Upon arrival he opened an narrow, high sliding door and entered, hoping to receive some information. No person was to be seen but what the pilot did see bewildered him so that the image was deeply ingrained in his mind.
There in the hanger stood three or four very large, round, dark dish shaped metal constructions on telescope-like leg stands. The objects were about 6 meters off the ground and the objects themselves were 12 to 15 meters in diameter. The pilot compared the shape of the objects to a giant soup dish or soup plate.
Suddenly, out of the half darkness a military guard emerged. The guard let the pilot know that he was in an area which was strictly off limits. In fact, the pilot was told, on no uncertain terms, to disappear immediately or this would be his last day on earth.
This day had started as a routine flight connecting two outlying airfields. This pilot had no expectations of seeing something so unusual that he barley had context in which to place it. Further, even as his mind was transfixed and in a process of trying to give understanding to what he was seeing, he was suddenly. jolted out of this tableau by a guard threatening his very life and ordering him to leave.
Of course the question of what those objects in the hanger really were comes back to this pilot even after almost 55 years. The pilot personally attributes it to the so called "Magnetscheibe", literally, "magnet-disk". According to the pilot rumors of these objects circulated in pilot circles since the summer of 1944 (4).
Two things can definitely be said of this sighting. First, it can be said is that this sighting seems to be of the smaller type of German field propulsion saucer as opposed to a larger version.Second, these saucers can definitely be ascribed to belonging to and in the possession of German military forces during the Second World War. At no time in this report has the word "alien" or"extraterrestrial" ever been mentioned or even considered.
Beyond that it can be said that the pilot personally believed these to be of the "Magnetscheibe" type, that is to say not powered by chemical combustion. There reasons to believe this is correct. These saucers were found on a remote and rather primitive airfield. They were in the only building present. This means that they did not need an extensive support system.
The chemically powered jet or rocket engines needed an extensive field support structure. They needed to be refueled after every flight. The two liquid fuels used by the Me-163 rocket-fighter, for instance, ignited immediately when they came into contact with each other with explosive intensity. The fuel tanks had to be washed out after each flight and separate ground crews were responsible for each type of liquid fuel. It is noteworthy that no such support ground support structure or personnel was in evidence on this occasion. All that was observed was a large structure filled with saucers and a guard. The ground support necessary for launch of these craft must have been minimal and argues for the field propulsion hypothesis.
Of course the weakness in this report is the lack of the name ofthe pilot. Even if this report is taken at a minimal level of credulity, it constitutes a rumor of German involvement with field propulsion vehicles. The reader will recall that the research paradigm being followed is that once mention was made by a German source of a particular thing, then (and only then) corroborating information should besought from U.S. governmental agencies using FOIA.
