Like the ancient Egyptians, the Incas left behind some extremely puzzling trinkets. Some of the most unusual are arguably the so-called “ancient aeroplanes”, which are small golden figurines that closely resemble modern jet planes. Amazon Prime’s 2016 documentary “Aliens in Egypt” reveal they were originally thought to be zoomorphic, meaning they represent animal forms or gods of animal form.
However, in the 20th century, the statues were soon found to have features that looked very much like fighter plane wings, stabilising tails, and even landing gear.
The documentary’s narrator notes: “They were aerodynamic enough that when ancient astronaut believers made model planes with their proportions and fitted them with propellers and jet engines, they flew perfectly.”
In 1994, German aeronautical engineers Peter Belting and Conrad Lubbers created larger scale radio-controlled models of these artefacts.
The narrator added: “All of this has led to speculation that the Incas may have been in contact with extraterrestrial people who were able to build advanced jet planes.”
The documentary also questions that the Incas “even possessed the technology themselves”.
However, mechanical flight was not invented until the Wright Brothers flights in 1903 – centuries after the Inca Empire had been conquered by imperial Spain, in 1572.
The Quimbaya Airplanes – or Tolima Airplanes – are golden artefacts, found in Colombia.
The models, measuring 2 to 3 inches each, are described in mainstream archaeology as depicting birds, lizards, amphibians and insects common in that region.