george wrote:

On Oct 25, 1:57 pm, Dirk Bruere at NeoPax <dirk.bru...@gmail.com>
wrote:

Before the Wright brothers flew there were a spate of airship sightings,
reflecting "ultramodern" technology (by 19th century standards).

And before that they had sightings of angels and priests floating about

Exactly.
Whatever the phenomenon is, it tracks the expectations, hopes and fears of the zeitgeist.