A discussion pertaining to the various allusions to flight having been achieved by ancient man, attested through various mythological frameworks and extant artefacts.

The mainstream narrative of man’s love affair with flight is already a rich and well researched facet of history. Usually beginning with a mention to early pioneers, to wit the Montgolfier brothers who conducted the first, public, display of a hot-air balloon in June 1783[1]or the early theories of Sir George Cayley regarding heavier than air flight,[2]many historians choose to omit or simply overlook far earlier examples of human fascination with flight. Some will mention in passing the invention of kites in China in the first millennium BC, others may dwell for a moment on the designs of Leonardo da Vinci, paying particular attention to his c. 1485 ‘ornithopter’ design[3]as one of the earliest forays into the concept of human piloted aircraft. None however fully or effectively elaborate upon the wealth of claims made by ancient cultures to the existence of man-made aerial automata far predating this current chapter in the history of aviation. It is the aim of this article therefore, to prove that human flight as a concept has tarried far longer in the collective imagination of mankind than this comparably recent date, being both experimented with, and potentially even achieved, at dates far earlier than those given in the above-mentioned mainstream narrative. Examples from all over the world and from varying degrees of antiquity will be exhibited throughout this text indicating through available artefacts and known mythologies that flight was more than just an unattainable dream; it may have even been an achievable reality to civilisations far predating our own. Prior to this, a brief history of aviation as it has developed most recently will be given so as to provide both a background understanding of the subject to the reader and so that accurate comparisons may be drawn should they need to be. It should be made apparent to the reader that an essay of this scope naturally operates under the assertion that an advanced civilisation, now lost in human pre-history, is a real possibility and the discussion of ancient aircraft serves to provide supporting evidence to this claim.

Most would be able to hint vaguely to the Wright brothers as a name associated with the incipient days of aviation. But prior to the displays in America and Europe by Orville and Wilbur in 1908,[4]there was much research and development carried out by earlier innovators that lead to their design that ‘flew for more than two hours and covered over 100km (62 miles).’[5]In the remarkably detailed Flight: The Complete History of Aviation R. G. Grant, a prolific writer and historian who has published more than fifty books covering many periods of history, details the earlier days of aviation in the book’s opening chapters. Grant stresses, after a brief prelude relating to lighter-than-air travel, the importance of Sir George Cayley’s work regarding the forces of flight[6]– weight, lift, drag and thrust. Grant goes on to note major developments and early experiments such as the first patenting of an aerial steam carriage in 1843 by William Samuel Henson[7]or the first, manned, heavier-than-air glider in 1853.[8]In the latter half of the nineteenth century there were several experiments in the field of steam powered, heavier-than-air flight with the notable effort of Clement Ader’s Éole in 1890, which flew at an altitude of 20cm for about 50m.[9] Throughout the 1890s German Engineer Otto Lilienthal made over 2,000 flights in hang gliders largely improving the understanding of control when in flight. Samuel Pierpont Langley successfully tested a steam-powered aircraft with a fourteen-foot wingspan on the Potomac River in 1896.[10] His two test flights lasted one minute thirty seconds and one minute forty-five seconds respectively however when Langley was approached by the US military regarding potential military applications, he failed to produce any functional flying machine.[11]In December 1903, less than a week after Charles Manly’s second failed attempt at utilising an internal combustion engine in an aircraft, the Wright brothers proved that such a feat was possible at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.[12] In Orville Wright’s words ‘It was only a flight of 12 seconds, and it was an uncertain, wavy, creeping sort of flight… but it was a real flight at last and not a glide.’[13] The Wright Brothers began experimenting with gliders in 1900, by 1905 they were flying for more than half an hour[14]and after their aforementioned 1908 displays the US military was once again showing interest in the potential applications of flight. After this there was a veritable torrent of development. The Channel was crossed by French inventor and engineer Louis Blériot in 1909, in 1911 the US began operating an air mail service, in 1914 two-way radio contact was achieved between Ground Control and pilot and 1919 saw the first international commercial passenger air service run between Paris and Brussels.[15]After the Atlantic was crossed in 1927 and the jet engine was invented by the British Frank Whittle in 1930[16]the aviation industry evolved into the military-consumer enterprise as it presents itself today, the details of which are largely beyond the scope of this article; this section pertaining primarily to the accepted narrative of the early development of flight. Now an understanding of the mainstream narrative of the inception of flight has been given, the focus of this essay can be turned to more remote attestations to flight.

With the achievements of Otto Lilienthal in mind one cannot but help to recall the infamous invention of Daedalus, used to help he and his son Icarus flee Crete after being imprisoned by Minos for aiding the escape of Theseus from the labyrinth. Using, according to Ovid in Metamorphoses, ‘sciences never explored before’[17]Daedalus constructed wings from feathers, string and wax. Though the details are scant and the construction materials dubious to say the least, this mention of science being used in the wing’s design hints that, at least by Ovid’s time (43 BC to 17 AD), educated people were aware that flight had rules, a set of principles governing the motion of bodies through the air. Flight in this instance isn’t described as miraculous or of the gods, it is described as a science – an area of study that can be perfected, refined or built upon. The only true comparison that can be drawn between this myth and the work of Lilienthal is the unfortunate demise of Icarus and the aforementioned, both of whom plummeted mid-flight. Turning attention away from Graeco-Roman mythology toward Norse legend one can note the continuity of ancient cultures mentioning feathers as a key material for flying apparatus. In a story in which a frost giant, Thrym, steals Thor’s hammer, Loki declares ‘he would try to discover the thief and recover the hammer, if Freya would only lend him her falcon plumes’,[18]it is then related that ‘In the form of a bird he [Loki] then winged his flight across the river Ifing, and over the barren stretches of Jotun-heim, where he shrewdly suspected the thief was to be found’.[19] Moreover, in the Skaldskaparmal (The Language of Poetry) of the Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241 AD),[20] the Icelandic compiler of the Norse oral tradition, relates the actions of the giant Thiassi who kidnaps the goddess of spring, Idunn. In this story it is stated that ‘Thiassi arrived in eagle shape and snatched Idunn and flew away with her to his home in Thrymheim.’[21]Again Freya lends Loki the ‘falcon shape of hers’[22]to aid in the recovery of Idunn. When Thiassi learned of Idunn’s rescue he acquired ‘his eagle shape’[23]and pursued Loki with such speed ‘he caused a storm-wind by his flying’.[24] It cannot be emphasised enough at this point that these stories do not describe fanciful accounts of therianthropic transfiguration. In each case those that partake in flight, namely Loki and Thiassi, have to obtain external equipment in order to achieve said flight. There is however yet more to unpack from these myths. Returning to the motif of the feather, the obvious assumption to draw is that ancient cultures made the association “feathers come from birds, birds can fly, therefore you need feathers to fly” however there is something deeper at play. Anyone can make a set of large wings or a coat from feathers but any sensible person would not then expect the power of flight to be imbued upon them via the inclusion of feathers alone. Instead the feather is being used as a symbol or metaphor of the ability of flight itself in these myths to relate the notion of human flight in a time when language lacked the sufficient level of jargon to do so. In this case it must be remembered that these stories existed as an oral tradition for thousands of years prior to their codification, and as such people would have to use symbolic means available to them to describe the long-lost technological achievements of some remote, advanced antecedent. The ambiguity of the term eagle or falcon “shape” being utilised in these stories also lends credence to the notion that some kind of craft is being operated here as opposed to any transfiguration or the use of a literal bird to achieve flight. The final point worth drawing here relates to the “storm-wind” created by Thiassi’s eagle shape when in flight. Other translations describe it as a ‘mighty rush of sound’.[25]This description is reminiscent more of a jet engine than it is a graceful bird of prey and whilst there may be birds with a wingspan capable of creating a slight waft or gust, none are known to create a “mighty rush of sound” or blow with any kind of force that could be likened to a storm-wind. Once again, a people lacking the technical jargon to describe a concept deeply remote to even themselves would likely use simile or metaphor to convey the general idea.

Whilst the connections made in the above paragraph may be too tenuous for the tastes of some readers, the descriptions given in Hindu texts are far more to the point. Without dwelling too long on a subject already well researched and extensively discussed, this next section will concern Vimanas, legendry flying machines mentioned in the Mahabharata, the Samarangana Sutradhara, the Yukti-kalpataru, the Mayamatam, the Vedic texts and many other Hindu writings. In truth, the word Vimana is somewhat of an umbrella term used for describing all manner of aerial vehicles mentioned extensively in Hindu writings. In Yajurveda, one of the Vedic texts most scholars accept as dating to 1,500 – 1,200 BC,[26]one reads of ‘airplanes, moving and flying upward, after the clouds that reside in the mid-region, that fly as the boats move on the sea’.[27]No need for allegorical interpretation here it seems. Arguably one of the most detailed texts pertaining to Vimanas is the Samarangana Sutradhara, in this text there can be found, David Hatcher Childress informs in his Technology of the Gods, ‘230 stanzas dealing with construction, take-off, cruising for thousands of miles, normal and forced landings, and even possible collisions with birds.’[28]Generally attributed to King Bhojar of Dhar, a patron of literature who lived in the eleventh-century AD,[29]the Samarangana Sutradhara contains an astonishing level of detail pertaining to aerial cars. Bhojar describes:

‘An aerial car… made out of light wood looking like a great bird with a durable and well-formed body having mercury inside and a fire at the bottom. It has two resplendent wings, and is propelled by air. It flies in the atmospheric regions for a great distance and carries several persons along with it. The inside construction resembles heaven created by Brahma himself. Iron, copper, lead and other metals are also used for these machines.’[30]

The similarities between this eleventh-century description of an “aerial car” and modern-day aeroplane are stark, save the comparison of the interior to heaven – a notion laughable to anyone who has ever flown economy class. But still the fact that some kind of flying machine was described around a thousand years ago is irrefutable. Just as the US had noticed the potential military applications of flight around the dawn of the twentieth-century, it seems so too were Vimanas used offensively. Returning to the works of Childress, in his comprehensive work Vimana: Flying Machines of the Ancients it is noted that some Vimana had ‘sophisticated weapons systems’[31]highlighting the fact that not only flight but also its militaristic applications have been, at the very least, considered throughout antiquity – an idea that will be further bolstered later in this article. It is then clear that one does not have to rely on interpretation alone when assessing mythological works; flight has been discussed in matter-of-fact terms in texts dating back thousands of years.

Having assessed allegorical attestations to the notion that flight has, in the remote past, been achieved by man, attention should now be turned to the matter of physical proof to back up the claim that ancient people not only understood the principles of aerodynamics, but actively utilised them in the construction of extant artefacts. Located in what is now Columbia, the Quimbaya civilisation is thought to have developed from as early as 300 BC[32]with their demise being estimated from around 1,000 AD to 1550 AD[33]– shortly after the colonisation of Columbia by the Spanish in 1525.[34]Whilst the latter of these dates seems the more likely of the two, understanding the effects of Spanish colonisation on the indigenous populations of South and Central America, this discrepancy is not the primary reason for discussion in the section presented thusly. Though they are known for all manner of craftworks such as ceramics featuring ‘geometrical drawings and phytomorphic forms’[35]it is the Quimbaya’s ‘precise gold and metalwork’[36]that particularly stands out as their quintessential artistic achievement. Of these golden artefacts currently housed in the Gold Museum in Bogotá, Colombia, there are a multitude of ‘zoomorphic figurines, representing birds, fish, insects, bats, and other mammals’, some of which have been demonstrated to show a significant level of aerodynamic understanding.’[37]Indeed, the triangular vertical rudder seen on the tail of some of the Quimbaya artefacts (Figure 1) has been compared to that of a Convair F102 1950s era fighter jet;[38]a physical trait not featured on any known animal of Columbian origin or otherwise. Collectively, there are fourteen examples of aviation-like artefacts extant today[39]most of which measure between two and three inches in length. Many may still have their reservations about the stability of these artefacts when scaled up. Countering this however, between 1994 and 1996 two scale models of these “craft” (about sixteen times larger than the originals) were engineered by German researchers Algund Eenboom (PhD), Peter Belting and Conrad Leubbers that reportedly flew with stability likened to that of the Concorde.[40]Of these two models, the first was powered by a propeller and the second a jet engine, vindicating those who saw in these artefacts aerodynamic potential and thoroughly justifying their inclusion in this text.

Figure 1: A photograph of one of the Quimbaya artefacts that was scaled up and proven to fly

It should come as no surprise that a culture with an inventive history as rich as the Chinese made their own forays into the matter of flight. In Chinese mythology there is described a ‘legendary flying chariot belonging to an ancient Chinese prince’[41]and there are several known stories that ‘speak of aerial vehicles traversing great distances, and explicitly refer to machines built with leather and metal parts’.[42] One of these stories relates to an Emperor Shun (2258 – 2208 BC), who ‘constructed not only a flying apparatus but even made a parachute about the same time as Daedalus built his gliders’;[43]clearly the idea of flight was present in the mythological framework of the Chinese. Moreover, as mentioned in the introduction, the Chinese had been developing their understanding of kites since 475 BC.[44] These early kites, constructed of light wood and cloth, were used mainly for military purposes such as measuring distances, monitoring the weather and communicating over large expanses.[45] Some kites were even capable of lifting a man. During the reign of the emperor Gao Yang (c.550-559 AD)[46]several prisoners (likely condemned to death) were attached to paper kites, one of which was flown for a distance of two and a half kilometres before coming back down to earth.[47] By the late thirteenth century, in 1282, Marco Polo witnessed the flight of a manned kite in the city of Weifang.[48] By this time manned kites were being used as a means of prophesying the weather conditions of a voyage and not solely as a punishment for prisoners – ‘if the kite and its passenger flew high and straight, it was a sign that the voyage would be a good one’.[49] Worth mentioning also are the bamboo copters of ancient China. Like the “aeroplanes” of the Quimbaya, the Chinese produced aerodynamically stable miniatures of modern-day machinery this time realised in a rudimentary device ‘that predicted the modern lifting propeller through mechanical lift achieved by a horizontal spinning of a bamboo strip’.[50] Finally, the use of flying lanterns that dates back to at least the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 – 220 AD)[51]indicates that, in China, there was a rudimentary understanding of both lighter and heavier-than-air flight.

In truth there are many examples hinting to experiments with and the discovery of flight by mankind in antiquity, far too numerous to detail here in full. If the reader desires a wider sample then attention should be turned to the legendary British King Bladud, or Mug Ruith of Irish mythology who flew in a craft known as the roth rámach.[52]Readers may also be rapt by the Saqqara Bird, a glider (though this claim is heavily debated) found in an Egyptian tomb dating to 200 BC.[53]There is indeed a wealth of both historical and mythological material regarding flying machines. It can therefore be said with certainty that flight, of sorts, was achieved thousands of years before the current generally accepted and discussed range of dates. This kind of flight was not as practical as the achievements of today (think of being strapped to a kite and subsequently used as some kind of meteorological portent) and in many cases, such as the bamboo copters of China and aeroplanes of the Quimbaya, only theoretically proved aerodynamic concepts commonplace in the practical achievements of the last two centuries. There has however been shown a surprising level of both experimentation and understanding from divers and far removed – both geographically and chronologically – cultures. Having said this, the stories from ancient mythologies paint a picture of powered and practical flight, hinting at the possibility that flight was achieved at a far more remote date in human prehistory and further allowing the potential to speculate that it was not only achieved but perfected by an ancient, now lost, civilisation. It is interesting to note too that each culture appears to have used their knowledge of flight in a militaristic fashion and whilst it was not the original or primary aim of this essay to discuss military history it is certainly interesting to note just how long the skies have been seen as a practical backdrop for martial logistics. The claims are too frequent and the understanding of aerodynamics too in depth to be ignored. It should be, at this point, abundantly clear that more research into the understanding of flight by ancient cultures is necessary. In an anthropological sense there is very little understanding into how people viewed the skies, practically speaking, when compared to their religious or symbolic attitudes towards it. This area of study has been neglected for too long and, as the evidence above serves to suggest, is a rich and complex facet of history that deserves far more attention that it receives at present.



[1]Grant, R. G. (2017). Flight: The Complete History of Aviation. London: DK. p11.

[2]Grant, R. G. Flight. p12.

[3]Hawcock, D. (2019). Leonardo da Vinci’s Flying Machine Kit. China: Dover Publications.

[4]Grant, R. G. Flight. P23.

[5]Ibid

[6]Grant, R. G. Flight. p12.

[7]Grant, R. G. Flight. p13.

[8]Grant, R. G. Flight. p14.

[9]Grant, R. G. Flight. pp14-15.

[10]Grant, R. G. Flight. p19.

[11]Ibid

[12]Grant, R. G. Flight. pp18-26.

[13]Grant, R. G. Flight. p26.

[14]Grant, R. G. Flight. p29.

[15]AIAA. (2019). History Timeline. Available: https://www.aiaa.org/about/History-and-Heritage/History-Timeline. Last accessed 30th September 2019.

[16]N/A. (2019). A progression of flight – timeline. Available: ttps://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/1691-a-progression-of-flight-timeline. Last accessed 30th September 2019.

[17]Innes, M. M (1955). The Metamorphoses of Ovid. London: Penguin Books. p184.

[18]Guerber, H. A. (1895). Myths of Northern Lands. p77.

[19]Ibid

[20]Editor. (2019). Snorri Sturluson. Available: https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/scandinavian-literature-biographies/snorri-sturluson. Last accessed 30th September 2019.

[21]Sturluson, S (2002). Edda. London: Everyman. p60.

[22]Ibid

[23]Ibid

[24]Ibid

[25]Sturluson, S (2012). The Prose Edda: Tales from Norse Mythology. New York: Dover Publications INC. p89.

[26]Editor. (2019). Yajurveda: Hindu Literature. Available: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Yajurveda. Last accessed 30thSeptember 2019.

[27]Yajur-veda 10.19 Gagskhosa. (2019). Ancient Flying Machines. Yajur-veda 10.19. Available: https://www.scribd.com/doc/11461170/Ancient-Flying-Machines. Last accessed 30th September 2019.

[28]Childress, D. H. (2000). Technology of the Gods: The Incredible Sciences of the Ancients. USA: Adventures Unlimited Press. p167.

[29]Dowson, J (2013). A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History and Literature. Oxon: Routledge. p54.

[30]Childress, D. H. (2013). Chapter 2. In: Vimana: Flying Machines of the Ancients. Illinois: Adventures Unlimited Press.

[31]Childress, D. H. Chapter 1. Vimana.

[32]Lemoy, C. (2011). Across the Pacific: From Ancient Asia to Precolombian America. Florida: Universal Publishers. p112.

[33]Vintner, J. C. (2011). Ancient Earth Mysteries. AEM Publishing. p24.

[34]N/A. (2019). The Colonization of Columbia. Available: https://www.donquijote.org/colombian-culture/history/colonization-of-colombia/. Last accessed 30th September 2019.

[35]Lemoy, C. Across the Pacific. p112.

[36]Vintner, J. C. Ancient Earth Mysteries. p24.

[37]Editor. (2019). Quimbaya Artifacts. Available: https://www.ancient-origins.net/quimbaya-artifacts-zoomorphic-figures-or-ancient-flying-machines-004215#slide-8-field_photogal-4215 . Last accessed 30th September 2019.

ALSO LOOK AT FOR PICTURES?

[38]Myhra, D (2014). The 1,000 Year Old Flying Machines of Pre-Modern Columbia, South America. N/A: RCW Ebook Publishing.

[39]Ibid

[40]Ibid

[41]Childress, D. H. Chapter 2. Vimana.

[42]Olshin, B. B. (2019). Lost Knowledge: The Concept of Vanished Technologies and Other Human Histories. BRILL. p113.

[43]Childress, D. H. Chapter 2. Vimana.

[44]Editor. (2019). Chinese Kites — History and Culture. Available: https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/culture/kites.htm. Last accessed 30th September 2019.

[45]Ibid

[46]Needham, J. and Ronan, C. (2003). The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China: An abridgement by Colin A. Ronan of Joseph Needham’s Original Text Volume 4. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p285.

[47]Ibid

[48]Editor. (2019). Chinese Kites — History and Culture.

[49]Ibid

[50]Singh, J. V. (2013). Chapter 4. In: China’s Aerospace Strategy. India: Kalpana Shukla.

[51]Editor. (2019). Chinese Lanterns — What They Are and How They’re Used.Available: https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/culture/lanterns.htm. Last accessed 30th September 2019.

[52]N/A. (2019). Labbacallee Wedge Tomb – Mogh Ruith. Available: https://labbacallee.weebly.com/mogh-ruacuteith.html. Last accessed 30th September 2019.

[53]Dr. Bonasorte, M. (2018). The Saqqara Bird: Did the Ancient Egyptians Know How to Fly? Available: https://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplained-phenomena/he-saqqara-bird-did-ancient-egyptians-know-how-fly-0010035. Last accessed 30th September 2019.