Flying saucer?


I've noticed that in most of the American media from back in the 50's and earlier (and in this film of course, especially in the scenes from that period) describe UFOs as "flying saucers", and was just curious about the origin of this.

Is it related to some old science fiction movie/TV-show?

I'm from Norway by the way, in case you're wondering why I don't know :) Science fiction is not very popular in Norway. I think Norwegians also used a similar term back then though - "flygende tallerken" - which directly translates to "flying plate", but I still have no idea of the origin.

This was a good movie, by the way. I just accidentally stumbled across it. Incredible it didn't made the silver screen with that cast! I suspect the US military bribed all the movie studios... ;)

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kenneth anorld coined it

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Yes, it comes from a newspaper error concerning a quote from Kenneth Arnold, amateur pilot.
Arnold claimed he saw several "disks", which were roughly boomerang-shaped that moved like a saucer skipped across water. The funny thing is that, since they reported saucers, people from then on saw flying saucers.
It was more the B-movie cast and subject than any bribes which accounted for the lack of interest. I don't recall Roswell being heavily promoted at the time. The military tends to make matters worse if anything. Their stupid response here to cover up Project Mogul is a good example.

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