[Calvin Locke]

If it's such an advantageous shape how come we don't see modern planes with that design?

I said it had one advantage, a short takeoff.

As for why the design didn't evolve with the jet age, I can just imagine what such a craft would do if it lost one engine. Not much room for the loss of symmetry, and I do remember that it was necessary to put, at least the prop engines, at the edge, for some forgotten reason.

[Bernard Marx]

You're ignoring the point of my original post. The objects first reported were not saucer-shaped! The entire myth of "flying saucers" is based on a reporter's mistake.