This is a preliminary, partial (and possibly erroneous) list of mystery aircraft (balloons, airships, aeroplanes) panics and related scares up to 1946. Entries in bold are major episodes (occurring over a wide area and/or long time); those in (brackets) do not involve aircraft but are related episodes of widespread misperception. Links are to posts elsewhere on this blog.
See also: a miscellany of Australian mystery aeroplanes, 1906-1947.
- 1873: (New Zealand)
- 1892: Poland
- 1896: Canada; United States
- 1897: Canada; United States
- 1899: Transvaal
- 1903: France
- 1907: Britain
- 1908: Denmark
- 1909: Britain — I, II; United States — (I); Australia — I, II; New Zealand; Sweden
- 1910: Australia; United States
- 1912: Britain; France
- 1912-3: Britain — I, II, III; Russia
- 1913: Austria-Hungary; Belgium; France; Germany; Romania
- 1914: Australia; South Africa
- 1914-6: Britain; Norway
- 1914-7: Canada
- 1914-8: United States
- 1916: Britain
- 1917: Australia; Canada
- 1918: Australia — I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI; New Zealand; (United States)
- 1927: Australia
- 1933-4, 1936-7: Finland; Norway; Sweden
- 1934: Britain
- 1937: Britain
- 1938: Australia — I, II; (United States)
- 1940: Britain — I, (II), III, IV
- 1941-2: (Brazil)
- 1942: United States — (I), (II), III
- 1946: Belgium; Denmark; Finland; Greece; Italy; Portugal; Sweden
This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Terms and conditions beyond the scope of this license may be available at airminded.org.