Ancient Flying Machines

Published December 10, 2023

Ancient Flying Machines are claimed to have been in existence in a number of ancient civilisations. Although many will have read of the claim that ancient India had flying machines known as vimanas, promoters of the ancient astronaut idea have relied heavily on the vimana reports in the likes of the Mahabharata spiced up with the additional suggestion of their involvement in atomic warfare. However, Joanna Gillan revealed that “Rather than being entirely fictitious, the passage is composed of a merging together of various unrelated passages scattered throughout the 200,000-verse epic, some of which are also questionable English translations of a questionable French translation of the original Sanskrit. When viewed in their original context, they are a little less convincing.”^(a)

As I said, the claim of early flying machines is not unique to India. A paper by the late R. Cedric Leonard, makes a case for ancient aircraft in Mesopotamia^(c), citing the Babylonian books, such as the little-known Halkatha, and the Sifr’ala, allegedly translated by Yonah N. Ibn A’haron. Although Leonard was satisfied regarding the existence of Mr A’haron, Jack Churchward is less sure^(b). The flying machines described in the Book of Ezekiel were encountered in what was known as Chaldea.

In Egypt a small wooden object shaped like a small glider or bird was discovered at Saqqara in 1898. With the development of flight in the early 20th century, some of the more imaginative suggested that the Saqqara Bird may have been a model of an early flying machine. Despite various attempts to substantiate this claim it remains a matter of speculation^(d).

A number of other ancient cultures have also left atifacts and writings that are interpreted by some as evidence of flying machines in ancient times. One site has referenced China, Polynesia and a number of South American countries as offering hints of prehistoric flight and noted^(e)that “To many the enormous bulk of this evidence is conclusive enough. Indeed the inescapable conclusion is that thousands of years ago a form of aviation did once exist. A form of transport that enabled people to travel to and from about the world much like we do today! But if so, where are the remains of these machines? We hear no mention of them being found at archaeological sites, and presumably if they had existed we should have found some trace of them?”

As I see it, many of the artefacts offered as evidence are open to subjective interpretation and therefore offering the possibility of unreliable conclusions and where documents are involved, lf they are genuine, they are usually in some exotic ancient language, leaving us totally dependent on the credibility of the interpreter.

Naturally, Atlantis has not escaped the claim of having mastered flight. This idea came from Edgar Cayce who advised us “that the Atlanteans discovered electricity and also had ships and aircraft powered by a mysterious form of energy crystal. He tells us that these flying machines were made of elephant skins! (Reading 364-6)^(f) and that they could also travel through water! With all this technology at their disposal, it is incredible that they could have lost a war with anyone, particularly the relatively primitive Athenians.”

^(a) Was the Mohenjo Daro ‘Massacre’ Real? | Ancient Origins (ancient-origins.net)

^(b) Rediscovery of The Naacal Tablets – Accusations Addressed (bibliotecapleyades.net)

^(c) https://atlantisquestscience.wordpress.com/myth/ancient-aeronautica/chaldean-aircraft/

^(d) Model Airplane? (catchpenny.org)

^(e) Prehistoric Flight (aeroman.org)

^(f) https://phantho.de/files/html/reading__364-6.htm

Tagged Ancient Flying Machines, China, Edgar Cayce, Ezekiel, India, Jack Churchward, Joanna Gillan, Mahabharata, Mesopotamia, Polynesia, R. Cedric Leonard, Saqqara Bird, South America, Yonah N. Ibn A’haron

Churchward, ‘Colonel’ James

Published June 6, 2010

‘Colonel’ James Churchward (1851-1936) was a British engineer and patent holder. However, his most famous invention was ‘the land of Mu‘, an imaginary counterpart of Atlantis, supposedly situated in the Pacific. He wrote six books ^{[0233]+[0234]+[1215]+[1945]+[1946]+} between 1926 and 1935 to promote this brainchild. Although based on material dating back to 1927 the last volume, Books of the Golden Age, was not published until 1997.

He also gave more than two dozen radio lectures on New York’s station WNYC between 1924 and 1925^(q).

Churchward claimed to have gained his knowledge of Mu from the so-called Naacal Tablets which were translated for him by an Indian priest. Jason Colavito has recently expanded on this matter in a recent blog⁽ⁱ⁾.

Readers might be interested in reading a newspaper report from 1932 in which he claimed the existence of flying machines in ancient India^(k). This idea was subsequently adopted by Pauwels & Bergier, copied by Von Däniken and more recently stolen by Hatcher Childress. Colavito has written a valuable piece^(l) on the origin and evolution of the story of vimanas in ancient Indian literature and debunked the suggestion that they were some early UFO.

On April 23, 1933, The New York Times described “Mr Churchward is an authority, the only authority there is, on the Lost Continent of Mu. It is, in fact, his continent, by all the rights there are of discovery, invention, evidence, conviction of reality that deal with intangible things.”

The kindest thing that I can say is that Churchward’s most valuable contribution to literature was A Big Game and Fishing Guide to Northeastern Maine, published in 1898. Two of the many gems offered by Churchward are (1) “Christ’s last words on the cross were in the language of Mu” and (2) “the sun is not a superheated body; it is a cool body but highly magnetic”^(b)!!!

Fortunately, geological knowledge today clearly demonstrates that Churchward’s vast island of Mu is as impossible as Donnelly’s Atlantic Atlantis. However, although Churchward also accepted that Atlantis was a mid-Atlantic continent, I am tempted to think that he invented Mu in the Pacific in the hope of emulating Donnelly’s publishing success with Atlantis. A critical review^(h) of Churchward’s theories, in French, is available on the Internet.

James Churchward’s younger brother, Albert (1852-1925)(right), was a Masonic writer, who was the author of The Origin and Evolution of the Human Race^[⁰⁹⁰³^]. It is interesting that this book, now available online^(j⁾, does not refer to either Mu or Atlantis.

An extensive paper written by his god-daughter, Joan Griffith, about his life and work is available online⁽^a⁾. Churchward’s great-grandson, Jack, also has a website^(d) dedicated to telling his story. This includes an acceptance^(s) that the rank of ‘colonel’ used by his great-grandfather was, on balance, another invention.>However, both Jack (Podcast 20)^(r) and Joan^(a) have defended the authenticity of Churchward’s military background with newspaper clippings and an article that was “published in 2001 by the World Explorer Club and authored by Joan Griffith entitled, “James Churchward and His Lost Pacific Continent — Lost Continent or Lost Cause?”

The article asserts that Peter Tompkins in the “Mysteries of the Mexican Pyramids” reveals that James was a member of British Intelligence. Due to the classified nature of his service, the British government has refused to acknowledge that he served. This is the reason that nobody can see his real records. If this were true it would be very convincing.”

At this point I was pondering on why it would still be a military secret a century later and decided to look at Jack’s Podcast 21^(s) and found there a most startling admission by Jack Churchward;

“In summary, I believe that the evidence shows that James Churchward was not a Colonel in the British Army and the use of the title was unearned. While this is the conclusion I reached given the evidence, I would be absolutely dumbfounded if someone did not disagree. If I have overlooked something, I am more than willing to re-evaluate the subject with any new evidence that is presented.

On the other hand, James, as a showman, needed the title to create the atmosphere and keep his audience enthralled. At the end of the day, if James used the title to bolster his presentation and sell himself to make a living, then who am I to judge him?”

If Jack is correct you can reasonably ask ‘what else did the ‘colonel’ lie about?’<

Jack also admitted^(m⁾ the unreliability of James’ translation of the Troano Manuscript, influenced as it was by the earlier seriously flawed attempts by Bishop Diego De Landa (1524-1579), de Bourbourg and LePlongeon. Jack has also written a couple of articles comparing the ideas of Churchward and LePlongeon^(o⁾.

Some years ago Frank Joseph wrote an article for Atlantis Rising magazine #30 in which he claimed that Churchward had been ‘corroborated’ but failed to mention that this corroboration only took place in Joseph’s fertile imagination! In fact, the article title is misleading and in my opinion, its content is just blather padded with waffle^(p⁾.

Most of Churchward’s Mu books can be read or downloaded online using the links below.

^[233]⁺https://campbellmgold.co.uk/archive_esoteric/lost_continent_mu_churchward_1931.pdf/the+lost+continent+of+mu%2020″

^[0234]⁺https://archive.org/details/ChildrenOfMu

^[1215]⁺Sacred Symbols of Mu Index (archive.org)

^[1945]⁺ https://archive.org/details/cosmicforcesofmu00chur_2/page/10/mode/2up

⁽^a⁾ https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/arqueologia/esp_churchward02.htm

^(b⁾https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/arqueologia/esp_churchward04.htm

^(d)https://www.my-mu.com/index.html

^(e)https://www.sacred-texts.com/atl/ssm/index.htm

^(f)Wayback Machine (archive.org)

^(g)https://campbellmgold.co.uk/archive_esoteric/lost_continent_mu_churchward_1931.pdf

^(h) http://ukko.free.fr/mu.htm (French)