Otto Lilienthal was the first man to actually fly in a heavier than air craft (1893). He was the dominant figure in aeronautics during the late 1800s. He was a trained engineer who studied and analyzed bird flight and designed wing sections based on his analysis. Then he built and flew gliders to test his calculations. These tests were well photographed public events and his theories were published world wide. Lilienthal's experiments and writings were closely examined by the Wright brothers who took the same route to success—analyze, then test by flying. As a businessman he sought worldwide patent protection for his invention. He believed that popularizing gliding would advance aeronautics, stating that experiments and flying exercises should not be carried out only by scientists, but by all those who would like to find and exciting past time in the air. So, he offered gliders for sale through catalogs. Percy Pilcher, the English experimenter and William Randolph Hearst, the US newspaper magnate, bought them. Many of his over two thousand flights were made on his own property, which had been modified to better suit his purposes. A glider must take off into the wind, and where a typical hill would allow flight only when the wind blew toward the hill, Lilienthal could position himself to face into the wind, no matter the direction, from his custom built conical hill. Lilienthal's gliders were made of bamboo and cane, and covered with cotton—weighing in at 45 pounds. The experimenter would hold on to the machine with his elbows and forearms. Running down hill, against the wind, he rapidly left the round and glided, bending his knees and his body in order to restore the balance. His final flight was, unfortunately, a fatal one. While testing his bi-wing glider, the top wing broke off, throwing Lilienthal to the ground. Amazingly, he wrote his final notes on his deathbed. His last words were, " ... sacrifices must be made."
Specifications of original full-size glider: span 23 ft.; weight approx. 40 lbs.
Accession no. 1993S01.
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