Here it is the original
article published on the Italian daily "Il Giornale d'Italia"
on March 24-25, 1950.
Giuseppe Belluzzo was a noted turbine expert (born in Verona, on November
25, 1876), whose nearly 50 books were highly considered. During the
Fascist government he was elected at the Parliament and was even appointed
Minister of the National Economy between 1925 and 1928. He built the very
first Italian steam turbines, later enhancing them for installation
on cruisers and battleships. He died in Rome on May 21st, 1952.
His claims to the press arrived just during the very first
Italian (and European) UFO wave, in the spring of 1950. The day after
several newspapers published the Belluzzo's claims, often on their first
page. "Il Corriere della Sera", "La Nazione", "Il
Messaggero", "La Stampa" and "La Gazzetta del Popolo"
were just some of them. |
A detailed
sketch of the Belluzzo's disc was published on the newspaper "Il
Mattino dell'Italia Centrale" on March 27, 1950.
Another daily, "Il Corriere d'Informazione" dated March 29-30
published a summary of such claims, plus a statement by general Ranza,
of the Italian Air Force, who denied the Belluzzo story.
A news dispatch was wired by Associated Press on March 24:
this means that the Belluzzo claims could have been published also on
some European newspapers just a few days before the
Schriever claims.
The original article told that some circular aircraft had
been studied and designed since 1942 in Italy and Germany. By 1950 it
should has been developed far enough to be able to deliver atom bombs.
It was ten meter across, unmanned and made by very light metals. |
Another sketch
of Belluzzo's idea of its circular turbo-powered aircraft.
The "pipes" installed on the edge of the disc had a variable
diameter. The air resulted accelerated when flowing through them. In
the largest section of each pipe some oil was sprayed and then ignited.
The temperature raised quickly and at the end of the pipe the air reached
a speed around 700 meters/sec., able to supply a 400 meters/sec. rotation
speed to the whole circular aircraft. When the oil was over, the craft
fell quickly down to the ground with its explosive payload. Antoher
version reported the unmanned craft as a "flak weapon".
Because of the Associated Press dispatch
released the same day of Giuseppe Belluzzo article, it is possible his
claims were published in some European newspapers, including
German ones. In such a case there could be room for additional investigation
about the possible influence of the Belluzzo claims on the Schriever
interview, published just a few days later. The near synchronicity of
both stories look quite odd, but possible. Claims of wonder German super-weapons
were popular in the years following the end of WWII.
More, one of the favorite hypothesis to explain the then new "flying
saucer" enigma was just the "secret weapon" one, including
that saying Russian had captured secret German technology and later
flown it successfully.
|
Just
a few days after Belluzzo's claims, an obscure Italian daily featured
a letter from a reader, a Mr. Lino Saglioni.
He claimed the Belluzzo story was correct and he was one of the British
commands trained to be sent to a remote site in North-East Norway, where
Germans were developing the original Italian idea.
The guy didn't join the commando force, which was completely destroyed
during its mission. Renato Vesco links such a story with the development
of his never-confirmed "Feuerball" and "Kugelblitz"
circular aircrafts. Mr. Saglioni (whose original letter was sent to the
daily "Il Giornale dell'Emilia") was never investigated, so
serious doubts about the historical reality of his claims still remain.
Renato Vesco himself had a couple of letters exchanged with such a gentleman,
but nothing special came out. The story was resumed one year later on
the pages of the aeronautical magazine "ALI" (1951) by Alberto
Fenoglio, a rocket amateur who wrote a book (1950) and several articles
about German Secret Weapons of WWII in the late '50s on the pages of an
Italian rocket and space magazine "Oltre il Cielo".
Some of Fenoglio's claims appeared unsubstantiated, others highly suspicious
(as well as some fakes about ancient UFO sightings and other incidents
in Russia) and mostly taken by earlier books and newsclippings. The whole
story, thanks to Fenoglio, evolved even more. |