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February 15, 1992


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This file courteously shared with KeelyNet through the research
efforts of Pete Navarro and Jimmy Ward.

If you might wish to correspond directly with Jimmy or Pete, you may
do so at the following address:

Jimmy Ward
1511 Summer St.
Houston, TX 77007

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Dellschau and other "Aeronauts"
by Jimmy Ward and P.G. Navarro

Among the thousands of drawings of strange and wondrous aircraft
produced by Dellschau are notations, remarks, and comments; some in
"clear" and some in code which, when pieced together, tell the story
of a group of industrious, aeronautically-minded inventors who
gathered in and around the towns of Sonora and Columbia, California
about the middle of the 19th century. They were members of an
"Aeroy Club", which was the original name of the club, but was
changed to the "Sonora Aero Club" in 1858 after becoming associated
with a Society "back East" known as NYMZA. Most of the members of
the Sonora Aero Club were German immigrants, with at least two
Spanish or Mexican members, one Frenchman, and three or four
Englishmen.

The towns of Sonora and Columbia were not the movie or TV
stereotypes of goldfish towns, which picture the inhabitants of
mining towns in those days as rough-shod, unmannerly, and
unschooled. It was on March 27, 1850 that Dr. Thaddeus Hildreth,
his brother George, and a handful of prospectors made their camp
near the site of what was to become Columbia. They found gold there
and the stampede was on. Before the month was out there were some
5,000 prospectors in the area and a thriving tent and shanty town
was born.

At first it was called Hildreth's Diggings, then American Camp, and
finally Columbia. Streets were laid out and the tents and shanties
replaced by more permanent structures. By the end of 1852 there
were more than 150 places of business (including 30 saloons and a
brewery), a church, Sunday School, Masonic Lodge, and even a branch
of the Sons of Temperance. In 1854, fire destroyed everything in

Page 1

the center of business district except for one brick building. In
the next year and a half some 30 buildings were built, this time
from locally produced red brick.

In 1854, following the fire, the New England Water Company was
organized and supplied the town with its own water for domestic use
and fire protection and, in July 1855, the first piped water was
made available.

In August 1857, a second fire ravaged the town's business district
and destroyed nearly all structures in a 15 block area. Following
this fire, a volunteer fire department was organized and a new fire
engine was purchased.

By 1860 the town had the usual Mexican fandango halls, gambling
parlors, saloons and other "houses" of diversion so common to all
mining towns in those days, but there were also more cultural
establishments such as small circuses and theatrical groups,
volunteer military companies, bands, and choral groups. There was
even a two-story brick schoolhouse.

Sonora, just 6 miles south, was even less like the stereotype mining
town and even contained several book stores that did a thriving
business. It was the cultural center of the area, and the ideal
location for a group of intelligentsia engaged in secret
experiments. Dellschau states that the group held their meetings in
Sonora, but they built and tested their craft near Columbia and
stored their dismantled craft in buildings in Columbia. Dellschau
claims that an airship, which they called the "Aero Dora" had been
built by August Schoetler, tested, and stored in Columbia. Also,
what is now the Columbia Airport is the only level area for miles
around and would have made an ideal test site. With all the mining
equipment and building supplies pouring into Sonora and Columbia,
parts for the secret craft would have passed unnoticed. The only
problem would be keeping the test flights secret, but even the most
ardent prospectors did not work all day, every day, and care could
have been taken to fly only when the "coast was clear". The
airships were equipped with wheels (many were self-propelled) and
they could have been assembled and stored in a nearby location and
wheeled out when the time was ripe for testing. This would have
been simple enough to do since the body fo the craft was wood and
all the external equipment, such as landing gear, paddle wheels,
etc. was bolted on.

This equipment could have been placed inside the body of the craft
and transported as if they were large borax or equipment-hauling
wagons, which would have attracted no special notice. The only
attention it might have attracted would have been because of the
strange and unusual appearance, but in those days there were many
strange types of wagons which were used for different purposes.
Only after it was re-assembled and the gas bag was attached would it
lose its appearance as a wagon and look like the airship it was
intended to be.

One aircraft that could have been easily transformed was the "Aero
Goeit". This airship contained a section which could have been
changed to the appearance of a gypsy wagon. The section behind the
main body was like a coal-tender behind a locomotive, but its
purpoer was to hold additional gas (for lift) and to provide
locomotion.
Page 2

Incidentally, Goetz's Aero Goeit was flown over the California giant
redwoods area and became entangled in one of the trees, resulting in
the death of one of the club members. The caption on this drawing
reads:

"Brother Goetz, you gready guts, What you mean whit
your one man flying trapp?

"Brother Newell, I mean One man is enough to breack
his neck".

Another aircraft that was readily adaptable as a land vehicle was
the "Crippel Wagon", designed and built by F.W. Schultze. It was
originally designed as a land-traveling vehicle and was called the
"Crippel Wagon Hydro-whir Auto". This vehicle was presumably built
for land use, but was later outfitted with a gas bag and a converter
by August Schoetler who turned it into a flying machine. However,
it appears that due to some indiscretion of Schoetler's, which
compromised the organization by divulging matters of secret trust,
the plans for further development of the Auto-Aero was discontinued
and the machine was dismantled. The possibilities for all the
undertakings mentioned above are there, only the proof is lacking.

In reply to a letter, listing the names of all known club members,
which was sent to Mr. Carlo De Ferrari, County Historian at Sonora,
by one of the authors, Mr. De Ferrari had this to say:

"I have run the list of 62 names through my indices, but I have
been unable to identify a single individual. Unless the names
are aliases or in code, they seem to have no local connections.

"The area you identify as being where the experiments were
conducted (now the Columbia Airport) was known as the Lawndale
Gulch and French Gulch areas at the time and was adjacent to the
town of Springfield. It was quite heavily mined and thickly
populated. Certainly, if any such aerial activities were taking
place there, someone would have noticed."

He then went into the fact that contemporary diaried and newspapers
contained no mention of such activities. But then he added in
closing:

"This does not necessarily mean that such activity did not take
place; as it could have been carried out in a highly secretive
manner."

Since this letter was written several tombstones have been found in
the area bearing names SIMILAR to the names by Dellschau in his
books. There is also NO trace of any Charles Arthur Dellschau, but
there are records of two brothers, John Charles and Arthur D.
Duchow. The records of the Duchow brothers are confusing and often
contradictory. They appear to have been men of mystery themselves,
to some degree. In one instance their name was spelled differently
and several times they used each other's given names arbitrarily.

According to Dellschau's notations the group wanted secrecy about
themselves AND their activities. They took great pains to ensure
it. But all of this was probably unnecessary. Even with newspaper
accounts and documentation, as an example, how many people know

Page 3

about President Lincoln's U.S. Army Corps of Aeronautics or his
interest in Dr. Solomon Andrews' "Aereon"? For that matter, how
many people have even HEARD of Dr. Solomon Andrews?

Dr. Solomon Andrews was an M.D. and, for a time, Mayor and Health
Officer of Perth Amboy where he developed the town's first sewer
system to help keep down cholera and yellow fever. He also invented
a sewing machine, a barrel-maker, a fumigator, a velocipede, a gas
lamp, forging presses, a kitchen stove and a pipe that would "filter
out harmful substances" from the tobacco.

In 1849, Dr. Andrews purchased the old Army barracks at Perth Amboy,
New Jersey and converted them into the "Inventor's Institute", where
he was joined by many other inventors.

In 1861, Thaddeus Lowe flew 900 miles in an observation balloon that
he had built. Lincoln made him chief of the newly formed U.S. Army
Corps of Aeronautics and he presided over a fleet of observation
balloons that were used in many Civil War engagements, mostly as
spies in the sky. Since there was so little control on the balloons
and the rebels were such crack shots, many were lost in the
fighting.

A letter dated August 9, 1862, reached President Lincoln from Dr.
Andrews in which he suggested "producing an aerostat for
reconnaissance, if nothing more, in aid of the armies of the Union".
Lincoln thought the idea had merit and asked to be kept informed and
to have eyewitness accounts of the progress and test flights of Dr.
Andrews' Aereon. Although reports were sent to the President, they
never got beyond his secretary.

On June 1, 1863, Dr. Andrews brought his ship out for its maiden
flight. It leaped into the air and flew INTO the wind at 200 feet.
It was then brought down to a safe landing. His motorless aircraft
had worked, and was navigable. A month later, with refinements, it
was again tested with equally fine results. Another trial, on
September 4, before a reporter from the New York Herald, was so
impressive, the newsman wrote, "With such a machine in the hands of
Jefferson Davis, the armies around Washington would be powerless to
defend the Capital".

Dr. Andrews was finally able to see President Lincoln and report to
him personally. A Congressional committe was set up by the
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, to look into the invention and make
recommendations. Hearings were held in March 1864 and immediate
appropriations were recommended. But apparently no one heard of
these recommendations and on March 22, 1865, Andrews received a
letter from the House Military Affairs Committee that they were
really not interested and, besides, the war was over.

This ended Lincoln's flying warships before they ever got off the
ground. (No pun intended.) If an episode such as the above
involving so many people in high places and so well publicized at
the time can become unknown almost overnight, think how easy it
would be to keep unknown activities of a group who strove to BE
KNOWN.

Apropos to the above story are several notations and comments made
by Dellschau in his drawings. For example :

Page 4

There are a series of drawings of "Jacke's Aero Hunter" which is
an airship based on his brother Carl Schubert's original design,
known as the "Aero Hunter". On one page is the note "a la
Brother Andrews". This may be an error because the writing
tapers to a point at the end and looks like a series of "e's" or
undotted "i's".

At any rate, the ship uses 3 gas bags "a la Andrews" (Dr.
Andrews Aereon) rather than the normal one on most of the other
Aeros. Also, Jacke Schubert designed a second craft, the Aero
Hurray, also with 3 balloons or gas bags and flat tailfins in
the rear "a la Andrews", unlike most other Aeros.

Another notation reads:

"Again, where material is used other than Peter's fuel, even the
Army, using fire to ascend cannot stay up long, because nothing
travels like Peter's Goose".

The above refers to Peter Mennis, who ALONE, knew the formula for
producing the gas used on the Aeros.

Still another:

"And who are you to question our board? Now what makes (it)
practical (to fly a) military airship (from) 10 or 100 miles an
hour? ? ? Hell. Those acting officers act just like race
track gamblers. No such questions asked as bullet-proof, good
gas reservoir, fall-easy, anti-ballast! What did you say? Holy
red tape.

"Yes, when weather suits - gas can be got when reaching camp!
What won't Peter Mennis say to you, simply "nonsense". And what
say I that long legged Prussian officer just more train. We got
too much already. Amen."

And lastly a long message:

"How would our members laugh, over the deeds of today's
Aeronauts. Nothing new under the heaven, says Brother Lewis
Caro. They build them, with and without using gasses..but 300-
400 feet long. Nay, nay, never!

"Yes, Dr. Saxe and Jourdan swearet for fool fun. All over us,
but who of our members did not say, say No sir - Won't go! Now
Kaiser Wilhelm wants sleeping rooms attached to his balloons!
Say Jourdan, can't you supply his majesty? Now next dropping
thing from above shall be unlawful in war and peace time.

"No bomb - no packages - no stinkeys. Well, who cares for the
laws - up in the clouds?

"Forbidden fruit tastes very sweet. For instance, the spys a
flying general a ammunition train right under him. He let
something droppe, to hear it boom, and burn it did! But
exploding powders force Aero his flyer and he droppet down
himself! All play things yet - good for time goe by, and money,
yes money always to pay for the funn, and money earning only for
mackers and Booler too. And now, my friends, Good Bye."

Page 5 CAAD

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As can be seen from the above, the members, for the most part, were
against war and did not want their craft to be used for war
purposes. And they wanted nothing to do with violence and/or the
military.

One of Dellschau's drawings graphically shows this. It is a collage
divided down the center. One side consists of newsclippings about
the subject of war and the uses of aircraft for this purpose, along
with a picture of two men talking. Dellschau also includes a
drawing of a black cat, a symbol he often used to designate evil or
bad luck. The other half of the collage depicts a man and a woman
carrying suitcases and golf clubs entering an Aero. The captions
read: "From your Point of View" and "Our Point of View". A very
good reason for keeping their discoveries secret!

There was also the element of fear; that their machines would be
used by criminals, and several drawings contained a "Press Bluhmen"
with comments about such uses. In one instance, along with a
drawing of the Aero IGOE, is an account both in English, and in
German apparently for emphasis that reads:

"There stands below a custom house to collect lots of taxes -
Stand there, not in my way. Come right up here and doo collect
for fetching diamonds overland. If not, my dear appraiser - we
going fast somewhere - we not telling you!

"There flies the burglar's windy craft with lots of luckre,
stolen. What does he care for policeman up here. And let me
tell you...Well you laugh. Have you a bank or a store below?
If so, the time might come when you won't laugh. Nor swear!"

Are these some of the reasons Dellschau took such great pains to
make it difficult for anyone to read his books and learn about the
Sonora Aero Club and their Aeros? Did the Club really exist or is
it all a figment of Dellschau's imagination? For that matter, who
is Dellschau? He did not seem to even exist prior to 1886 when he
came to Houston!

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