Solving the 1897 Airship Mystery
"It sailed directly over the public square, and when it reached the north part of town collided with the tower of Judge Proctor's windmill and went to pieces with a terrific explosion, scattering debris over several acres of ground, wrecking the windmill and water tank, and destroying the judge's flower garden."   --Dallas Morning News, April 19, 1897 Six years before the Wright brothers' successful flight and more than fifty years before the term "UFO" was invented, eyewitnesses from California to Michigan to Louisiana reported seeing mysterious craft sailing through the sky. Newspapers across the country chronicled these sightings, like the account of the spectacular crash in Aurora, Texas, quoted above. Theories abounded, but the facts have eluded historians. In Solving the 1897 Airship Mystery, Michael Busby reveals the truth about a secretive group of inventive men whose flying machines enthralled the nation six years before the Wright brothers flew at Kittyhawk, North Carolina. He has researched the backgrounds of the numerous individuals involved, including such prominent figures as San Francisco attorney George Collins, who professed to be legal representative for the airship inventors; Dr. Elmer Benjamin, San Francisco dentist and inventor; Prof. Amos Dolbear, chairman of Tufts University's Department of Astronomy and Physics; Prof. and Brig. Gen. Samuel E. Tillman, professor of chemistry (U.S. Military Academy--class of 1869) and U.S. Military Academy superintendent (1917-19); U.S. Marshal John  Shelby Williams, federal marshal for the eastern district of Texas; California attorney general William H. H. Hart, immigrant, orphan, boy soldier, Indian fighter, and California pioneer; Dr. Solomon Andrews, the Perth Amboy, New Jersey, mayor, inventor, and physician; and San Francisco physician Dr. Charles A. Smith, who, with Dr. Andrews, pioneered aviation.  A call to duty from a divided country brought these men together during America's deadly fratricidal war. Serving in the Army of the Potomac, they forged lifelong friendships in the mud and blood of battle. After the Civil War they returned to their civilian professions, ultimately uniting again to design, build, and fly the amazing airships of 1897. Featuring exhaustive research and numerous tables, illustrations, and maps, Solving the 1897 Airship Mystery is a startling addition to the history of flight.