Otto Lilienthal - Germany
Otto Lilienthal, Germany's first
and most brilliant contributor to the conquest of the air who made over 2,500 successful
glider flights. Lilienthal's book of aerodynamic data published in 1889 greatly influenced
aeronautical design and was the bible for the early designs of the Wright brothers.
Lilienthal's early gliders were monoplanes with cambered wings and a
fixed tail plane. The pilot dangled like a marionette from these fragile craft, head and
shoulders above the wings, body and legs below. It was by shifting weight, swinging hips
and legs forward or back, or from side to side, that the operator achieved some degree of
control.
On August 9, 1896, Lilienthal was killed when he stalled and crashed to
the ground while gliding. He broke his spine, and he died a day later in a Berlin
hospital. There is some feeling that had Lilienthal lived, he might have beaten the Wright
brothers to the punch.