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Left: Cross-section of Sikorsky Cypher II showing features of the rotor propulsion system. Sikorsky Aircraft Company (317kg). It used a ducted fan system for propulsion, powered by two McCulloch engines, and there were opening flaps on the underside of the craft to provide directional control. Moller believed that failure of one engine in flight would not prove catastrophic and it would still be possible to make a safe landing. In 1966 Moller filed a US Patent (3,410,507) for this design and the XM-2 flew for the first time that same year. Unfortunately, the machine never rose much higher than about 3ft (0.91m) from the ground and was report- edly rather unstable in operation. XM-2 was intended to be more than a ground effect vehicle, but lacked adequate engine power Moller Canadian-born inventor Paul S Moller grew up with aspirations of building his own per- sonal aircraft capable of VTOL. Having gradu- ating from High School, Moller went on to undertake a three-year course on aircraft maintenance with Trade School and finally joined the Canadair Aircraft Company in Montreal as an engineer. He then met Profes- sor Barry Newman from McGill University who invited him to join his undergraduate programme, where he eventually graduated with a Masters in Engineering and a PhD. In 1963 Dr Moller joined UC Davis in California as a professor of mechanical engineering and spent the next eleven years teaching. A year after joining the college he began to transform his VTOL aircraft concepts into something more positive. First of all he set up a business called The Moller Aircraft Com- pany and then began the construction, in his garage, of a compact prototype aircraft called the XM-2. XM-2 was a one-man 14ft (4.27m) diameter disc-shaped vehicle weighing 700 Ib 154 Top left: The more advanced twin propulsion winged Sikorsky Cypher II. US DoD Above left: Key internal features of the winged Sikorsky Cypher II. Sikorsky Aircraft Company Above right: Initial layout proposal for the Sikorsky Cypher II. Sikorsky Aircraft Company Secret Projects: Flying Saucer Aircraft