Dellschaus’ Flying Machines…

Many years ago, when I was heavily involved in UFO studies, every now and then I would hear about a mysterious group called the ‘Sonora Aero Club’. It was very difficult to find any information or details but I did gather they existed in Sonora California in the mid 1800s and were using some kind of flying machine of unknown design.

In discussions with various other researchers, I came across the name Pete Navarro so I called in a couple of favors and found a guy named Jimmy Ward. We made contact and Jimmy kindly provided me with the name and phone number for Pete. Sad to say, Jimmy died a few years ago but he was a wealth of information and had many unusual experiences during his life.

From my contact with Pete, between he and Jimmy, I gathered enough information for the Aero series on KeelyNet which dealt with the mysterious Dellschau manuscripts. These were posted on the KeelyNet BBS that ran from 1988 to 1996. See; Aero 1, Aero 2, Aero 3, Aero 4, Aero 5, Aero 6, Aero 7, Aero 8 and Aero 9. They are old txt files that I need to change to html.

The information described a super light gas with incredible lifting ability which was extracted from coal and called ‘float’. It was much more flammable than hydrogen and appears to be an unknown element below hydrogen on the atomic scale. Only a few people knew the secret of extracting this ‘float’ gas. This gas was used to fly very compact blimps with an undercarriage for passengers and cargo.

There were secret groups at the time and the Sonora Aero Club consisted of inventors and experimenters who swore to never reveal their secrets or to use their technology for commerce, aerial traffic or aerial war on pain of death.

It appears the Sonora Aero Club spawned from a secret group in New York which in turn spawned from a secret group in Germany. The stories are fascinating and ripe for a movie or documentary since there were many airship sightings across the US from about 1850 to 1920 or so. Another excellent book is Wallace Chariton’s “Texas Airship Mystery”. Wally lived near Dallas so he spoke at one of our Vanguard meetings and provided a lot of information from his research.

I am very pleased to hear through Dennis Crenshaw that Pete will compile all his information into a book.

Dennis Crenshaw writes; “I am very pleased to announce that Pete Navarro and I have signed a contract with Anomalist Books (www.anomalistbooks.com ) to publish our MS concerning the acclaimed mysterious artist C.A.A. Dellschau and his strange drawings of futuristic flying machines. The title will be, “The Secrets of Dellschau: The Sonora Aero Club and the flying machines of the 1800s.” Along with the story of Pete’s many years spent breaking the code and then closely studying the secret story hidden by Dellschau in his drawings, the book will contain hundreds of Pete’s personal drawings and color photos taken during his 27 year quest. The book is presently in the design phase. We would like to thank Dennis Stacy and the crew at Anomalist Books for working with us to get this information out. Also in the works a total new interactive website designed to continue delving into the Secrets of Dellschau and the artist’s possible connection to the Mysterious Flying Machine sightings of the early 1800s. It is our hope that by making available through the book and website all we know concerning this mystery that others will come forward with ideas and knowledge to further advance, or possibly even answer the question: What was Dellschau trying to tell us?”