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The Great Airship of 1897: A Provocative Look at the Most Mysterious Aviation Event in History Paperback – Illustrated, April 1, 2010

by J. Allan Danelek (Author)
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 16 ratings
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In November 1896, residents of California watched a mysterious bright light pass slowly over their cities on several occasions, sparking a media frenzy. Was it a visitor from outer space, making an early appearance? The author presents his provocative theory that the mysterious vessel was a terrestrial craft years ahead of its time.
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  1. Print length
    160 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Adventures Unlimited Press
  4. Publication date
    April 1, 2010
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1935487035
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1935487036
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A native Minnesotan who currently resides in Colorado, Jeff Allen Danelek has been working as a graphic artist and technical illustrator since leaving the Navy in 1984. While he has been writing as a hobby for fifteen years, it is only in the last few years that he began pursuing it as a full-time vocation. Besides writing, his hobbies include military history, religion and spirituality, numismatics (coin collecting), general science and things like Bigfoot and other mysterious beasties, Atlantis, UFO's and anything that goes bump in the night. An avid reader and careful researcher, he enjoys presenting alternative theories on increasingly popular subjects dealing with the strange and inexplicable world around us.

Danelek is regularly featured at seminars and conferences around the country, speaking on the topics of ghosts, reincarnation and UFOs. He has been published in FATE magazine and has been a frequent guest on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory and the X-Zone with Rob McConnell. He has also been a guest on Dreamland with Whitley Strieber, the Hilly Rose show, Erskine Overnight, and many popular podcasts. His books include The Case for Ghosts, Atlantis: Lessons from a Prehistoric Civilization, and UFOs: The Great Debate. His latest book is 2012: Extinction or Utopia. Danelek is also a novelist and instructor at Colorado Free University.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Adventures Unlimited Press; Illustrated edition (April 1, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1935487035
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1935487036
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 0.035 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 16 ratings

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
16 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Brian Boys
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2015
Verified Purchase
Thorough review of the possibilities from an excellent writer and investigator--who's actually flown in airships! Interesting and entertaining.
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Terrence Odgers
4.0 out of 5 stars The Great Airship of 1897 solved?
Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2010
Verified Purchase
I am a prolific reader of almost anything, however, I find that I am particularly attracted to the subject of unconventional flying objects (UFO's) or related matters. Many years ago I came across several books which recounted an episode within the annals of UFO's that touched on the sightings of a mysterious 'Airship' toward the end of Ninteenth Century America, when the public first became aware that something unusual was flying through the night sky in California during 1897.

While the sightings caused something of a sensation for that era the description of the 'Airship' by reliable witnesses left not many in doubt, that the 'object' and its crew, were most definitely of human origin.

The authors who have included this occurrence in their books left me, as a reader and ex-police officer, somewhat puzzled and disappointed that these sightings had not been investigated to a possible conclusion. For while the 'Airship' sensation started suddenly, it ended just as suddenly a few months later without fanfare or reason.

Jeff Danelek in his book, The Great Airship of 1897, recounts the eyewitness accounts and his subsequent investigation uncovers a possible location and origin for the craft and the purpose for its being.

He also provides a what, when, how and why someone would go to the enormous expense and time involved to put a machine into the air at night during 1897, before the inception of powered flight and without any public announcement whatsoever.

If you like your mysteries to be solved, especially this type of mystery, then this is the book for you!
19 people found this helpful
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melomo
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2016
Verified Purchase
very good
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PDT
4.0 out of 5 stars entertaining and thought provoking
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2010
Verified Purchase
I have had a casual interest in airships and early-flight for a while now and found this book to be entertaining and thought provoking. I'd say a little over half of the book is conjecture, complete with a fictional account of the event, which I did find to be an entertaining read. A few technical nitpicks here and there (like how did they have the technology for computerized timing necessary for a DC brushless motors in the 1890's? That would definitely make it ahead of it's time!). There were more pictures than I expected. Living in Northen California not too far from Oroville and interested in local history I have done a little research on this subject on my own, so there was not a lot of new info to me. Overall I enjoyed the book and found the author's speculations and creative theories interesting and entertaining, even if only for the reading indulgence in a subject that I enjoy.
2 people found this helpful
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Patrick C. Weidinger
1.0 out of 5 stars Not Much Air in This Airship Book
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2010
Verified Purchase
I was hoping for more solid research and informed speculation as to what happened during the airship event of the late 1800's, but it's not present i this book. The novel at the end which is supposed to offer the authors conclusions doesn't cut it. Half a book of what little facts there are about this mystery, then half a novel about the airships? Didn't work for me.
4 people found this helpful
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K. A. Geiselman
4.0 out of 5 stars Citation needed
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2011
I know a bit about what was called as the "Great Airship Flap of 1896-97". Starting in November there were a string of sightings of a cigar-shaped airship around Sacramento and San Francisco. Then, in the following February, airship sightings began in Nebraska and for the next two months proceeded across the Midwest into Michigan.

J. Allan Danelek's "The Great Airship of 1897" presents his "provocative theory" that these airship sightings were, in fact, airship sightings.

I know, that doesn't sound too amazing but the general consensus is that such a thing was beyond the technology of the day, could not have been kept secret and was probably the result of newspaper hoaxes and delusional eyewitnesses. What Danelek does is present a compelling case for how the airship was not beyond the technology of the day and, while there were certainly exaggerations and hoaxes, the core of the story was probably true.

The first third of the book talks about the events as reported in newspapers of the time. Unfortunately, Danelek offers few primary sources. He talks about reports in newspapers, mentions a few newspapers by name and occasionally has a quote, but he doesn't provide any clippings or extended quotes. In fact, his book has no bibliography or footnotes, only a short list of recommended reading. I found it hard to give a lot of weight to his presentation when I was able to find more thorough documentation on Wikipedia.

He also tends to cherry pick what news reports he talks about. There were thousands of reports all across half of the country but, by weeding those reports, Danelek makes it seem like there was a series of reports that were accurate and true and then there were all the rest. He has something of a confirmation bias in drawing that line in such a way that supports his conclusion. It's a small book (182 pages) so streamlining things is not unexpected.

But then he jumps the rails is in Chapter Three, where he says:

"Though this remains a minority view among most airship enthusiasts, the possibility that the mysterious lights of 1897 were alien spacecraft must be considered a legitimate one."

No, Actually, it doesn't.

I don't find the time given to this surprising, especially when you look at the back of the book and see that 10% of the entire content is devoted to other books in the publisher's catalog, including Danelek's other books, "UFOs: The Great Debate", "Atlantis: Lessons from the Lost Continent", "The Case for Ghosts" and "2012: Extinction or Utopia". While the blurbs make it seem like he's a paranormal skeptic, it strikes me that he's only taking on the vainer of objectivity and, with his body of work and lack of bibliography, he comes into this not as an airship enthusiast but as a paranormal enthusiast trying to bill himself as something other than a UFOlogist.

Thankfully, in the next chapter where he starts trying to justify his proposal that there really was an airship, he gets back on track and drops the whole UFO thing.

That justification begins with the history of airship development and the technology in contemporary airships. In showing where other engineers and inventors were in their development it is very easy to believe that someone in California had been able to build an airship like the one described in the reports. It would have been technologically advanced, bit not so advanced as to not be able to be built in 1896. In the final analysis, this is the most convincing part of his presentation. Clearly showing that such an airship was entirely plausible goes a long way towards convincing the reader that at least some of the sightings were real amongst the many falsehoods.

Next, Danelek steps out a little further and proposes a design for the airship in a sort of thought experiment. You could imagine this thing actually being built and flying, although I'd like to see what an aeronautical engineer would have to say about it. I don't have the impression that Danelek has the engineering experience to justify his design. Maybe if his recommended reading list had something more technical than John Toland's "The Great Dirigibles". Maybe if he referenced Charles Burgess's "Airship Design". Maybe if the Mythbusters got a hold of it and tried building the thing. (They did an excellent job with their 1/50th scale Hindenburg.)

Finally, Danelek takes the final step with the back third of the book being a complete fictionalization of the secret airship story. While this nails the coffin on any illusions of this being a scholarly work, I did like how it makes the entire episode even more plausible, putting the events in context and allowing the reader to understand how such an undertaking could not only have been brought to fruition but how it also could be kept secret, both during and after the flap.

All in all, it is a passable introduction to the Great Airship Flap of 1896-97. The narrative presents a compelling, though not a convincing case and a search of the Internet could have provided many more of the details needed to convince the reader of of author's case. I personally am convinced that there was an actual airship that was sighted over the American mid-west, but it wasn't Danelek's book that convinced me.

Final score: {{Citation needed}}
17 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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GIRAUD
2.0 out of 5 stars Trop sommaire
Reviewed in France on May 18, 2013
Verified Purchase
L'auteur ne fait que survoler le phénomène et donne une solution "vraisemblable" mais pas assez développée. J'attendais mieux. Un ouvrage qu'il n'est pas indispensable de posséder.
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