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Chapter Nine Exotic Propulsion Systems Unusual propulsive technologies that include _ Electrogravitics was engaged in advanced minesweeping gravity reduction, ionic airflow, nuclear By the time he became a teenager the preco- research. Heading his own research depart- fusion, laser ablation and the beaming of cious Thomas Townsend Brown (1905-1985) ment, Lieutenant Commander Townsend microwave energy from a fixed site are gen- had developed a serious interest in electrical | Brown oversaw a staff of highly qualified sci- erally regarded as science fiction concepts engineering and was conducting all manner _ entists and had access to some of the best belonging to a future era. Nevertheless, most of small-scale experiments in a workshop minds in the country, including Albert Ein- of these ideas for advanced power systems behind his wealthy family’s home at stein. Townsend Brown’s name has often have been studied, or have been under devel- Zanesville, Ohio. After joining Denison Uni- _ been linked to the notorious 1943 Philadel- opment, for decades, and the ideal platform versity in 1923, Townsend Brown attracted _ phia Experiment, which allegedly concerned to utilise them is often the lenticular or disc- _ the attention of Professor Paul Alfred Biefeld, an electronic form of radar invisibility. The US shape craft. who had studied physics alongside Einstein Navy still insists that the Philadelphia Experi- To date the US Government has spent mil- in Switzerland. Townsend Brown was soon ment never took place, but Townsend Brown lions of dollars researching unconventional undertaking research into the behaviour of _ is alleged to have confirmed its existence on forms of propulsion for aerospace vehicles capacitors, convinced that they were capable __ two separate occasions just before his death. and there is evidence of similar work taking — of generating a new unexplained force. With In 1944, after suffering a mental break- place in other industrialised nations. Asacon- _ Biefeld’s help Townsend Brown developed a down, Townsend Brown left the Navy and sequence many conspiracy theorists believe complex theory, which suggested that an was recruited by Lockheed-Vega to under- this effort has yielded results, which are — electrostatic charge between the two plates take radar development. When the war already in use by elite units of America’s of a capacitor produced a small gravitational ended Townsend Brown moved to Hawaii armed forces and perhaps the Russians. field. They finally decided to call this the where he set up his own laboratory to under- There can be little doubt that modest scien- _ Biefeld-Brown Effect and Townsend Brown _ take full time research into electrogravitics. At tific advances in any of these areas would _ spent the remainder of the 1920s studying it, the start of the 1950s he had re-located to provide the military with a significant edge in _ while also coining the term electrograviticsas | Cleveland and was able to fly small tethered any future large-scale conflict, and for this _ageneral description for electro-gravity theory. model discs around his laboratory by means reason any technological breakthroughs In 1930 Townsend Brown joined the US _ of a field-effect propulsion system. On 13th would remain secret for as long as possible. Navy and by the start of World War Two he — June 1952 Townsend Brown applied for a US 2,949,550 Left: Electrokinetic Apparatus patent filed by Townsend Brown in 1957. This cross-sectional drawing shows the principle features of his small flying disc demonstrator in highly simplified form. US Patent Office 60 162 T. T. BROWN ELECTROKINETIC APPARATUS Filed July 3, 1957 Above: Thomas Townsend Brown. US Navy Secret Projects: Flying Saucer Aircraft