The first ‘flying saucer’ was spotted by an American pilot over Mount Washington in 1947. He coined the phrase to describe the disc-shaped craft which hovered above him and heralded the age of UFOs. Many UFO spotters became convinced these were space craft flown by aliens; others just blinked – bewildered. Governments and the media scoffed at the idea of alien transport – but others knew better.

Under cover of the popular hysteria that fuelled sensationalist newspaper reports and Hollywood movie scripts – there were small teams of brilliant scientists secretly designing, building and piloting real flying saucers. This is the story of the Real Saucermen and man-made flying saucers. A story of more than 50 years of development during which governments invested heavily in the promising future of anti-gravity flying machines. From these secret projects came the mysterious lights seen in the skies.