Saqqara Plane Saqqara, Egypt 2200 years ago

This wooden model, 5.6" in length with a wingspan of 7.2" was found in 1898 in a tomb, dated at 200 BCE, in Saqqara Egypt. At that time the model was labeled as a "bird object" and stored in the basement of the Cairo Museum in Egypt. Seventy years later Dr. Kahlil Messiha, an Egyptologist, archeologist and a model plane enthusiest, re-discovered the model among other bird figurines. He immediately recognized that this model did not resemble any bird but did resemble an airplane.

Very little is mentioned of this object other than noting its novelty. Scientists simply labeled the artifact a flying bird, animal or insect. The Smithsonian Institutes display explanation reads, "gold artefact, a stylised insect, from the Quimbaya culture, Antioquia province, Columbia, ca. 1000-1500 AD".

While the model does have an eye and beak like nose, there is no other bird features on the model. Also the model does not resemble any known bird, the tail is vertical like an airplane not horizontal like a bird. Balsa wood replicas have been constructed and flew when thrown by hand. It is proposed that this is a model of an actual plane or glider either witnessed or built by the Egyptians.

There is no way to know if this was originally a model of a bird, unproven invention or a model of an actual aircraft. It was common for the Egyptians to construct realistic models of animals and birds as well as construction projects such as ships. The only marking on the model resembling a bird is the eye but, it is not uncommon for modern day fighter planes to paint the nose of the plane with teeth.