Karl Wilhelm Otto Lilienthal (23 May 1848 – 10 August 1896) was a German pioneer of

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

who became known as the "flying man". He was the first person to make well-documented, repeated, successful flights with

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

s, therefore making the idea of "

heavier than air An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or by using the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in ...

" a reality. Newspapers and magazines published photographs of Lilienthal gliding, favourably influencing public and scientific opinion about the possibility of flying machines becoming practical. Lilienthal's work led to him developing the concept of the modern wing. His flight attempts in 1891 are seen as the beginning of human flight and the "

Lilienthal Normalsegelapparat The Lilienthal ''Normalsegelapparat'' (German: "Normal soaring apparatus") is a Glider aircraft, glider designed by Otto Lilienthal in Germany in the late 19th century. It is considered to be the first aeroplane to be serially produced, exampl ...

" is considered to be the first airplane in series production, making the ''Maschinenfabrik Otto Lilienthal'' the first air plane production company in the world. Otto Lilienthal is often referred to as either the "father of aviation" or "father of flight". On 9 August 1896, his glider stalled and he was unable to regain control. Falling from about 15 m (50 ft), he broke his neck and died the next day.

Early life

Lilienthal was born on 23 May 1848 in

Anklam Anklam [], formerly known as Tanglim and Wendenburg, is a town in the Western Pomerania region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the banks of the Peene river, just 8 km from its mouth in the ''Kleines Haff'', the western ...

, Pomerania Province, in the German kingdom of

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

. His parents were Gustav and Caroline, née Pohle. He was baptised in the evangelical-lutheran St. Nicholas church and confirmed in St. Mary's church in Anklam. Lilienthal's middle-class parents had eight children, but only three survived infancy: Otto,

Gustav Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: *Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...

, and Marie. The brothers worked together all their lives on technical, social, and cultural projects. Lilienthal attended grammar school and studied the flight of birds with his brother Gustav (1849–1933). Fascinated by the idea of manned flight, Lilienthal and his brother made strap-on wings, but failed in their attempts to fly. He attended the regional technical school in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

for two years and trained at the Schwarzkopf Company before becoming a professional design engineer. He later attended the Royal Technical Academy in Berlin. In 1867, Lilienthal began experiments in earnest on the force of air, but interrupted the work to serve in the Franco-Prussian War. Returning to civilian life, he was a staff engineer with several engineering companies and received a patent, his first, for a mining machine. He founded his own company to make boilers and steam engines. On 6 June 1878, Lilienthal married Agnes Fischer, daughter of a deputy. Music brought them together; she was trained in piano and voice while Lilienthal played the

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

and had a good

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

voice. After marriage, they took up residence in Berlin and had four children: Otto, Anna, Fritz, and Frida."Otto Lilienthal."
''Encyclopedia of World Biography,'' 2004. Retrieved: 7 January 2012. Lilienthal published his famous book ''Birdflight as the Basis of Aviation'' in 1889.

Experiments in flight

Lilienthal's greatest contribution was in the development of heavier-than-air flight. He made his flights from an artificial hill he built near

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and from natural hills, especially in the

Rhinow Rhinow () is a town in the Havelland district (Landkreis), in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 16 km north of Rathenow, and 22 km south of Kyritz. Rhinow is the administrative seat (Verwaltungssitz) of the Rhinow district (Amt). ...

region. The filing of a U.S. Patent in 1894 by Lilienthal directed pilots to grip the "bar" for carrying and flying the hang glider. The A-frame of

Percy Pilcher Percy Sinclair Pilcher (16 January 1867 – 2 October 1899) was a British inventor and pioneer aviator who was his country's foremost experimenter in unpowered flight near the end of the nineteenth century. After corresponding with Otto Lilien ...

and Lilienthal echoes in today's control frame for

hang gliders Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

and

ultralight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with aile ...

aircraft. Working in conjunction with his brother Gustav, Lilienthal made over 2,000 flights in gliders of his design starting in 1891 with his first glider version, the

Derwitzer Glider The Derwitzer Glider was a glider that was developed by Otto Lilienthal, so named because it was tested near Derwitz in Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the s ...

, until his death in a gliding crash in 1896. His total flying time was five hours."From Lilienthal to the Wrights."
''Otto Lilienthal Museum.'' Retrieved: 8 January 2012. Otto Lilienthal gliding experiment ppmsca

Otto Lilienthal gliding experiment ppmsca

At the beginning, in 1891, Lilienthal succeeded with jumps and flights covering a distance of about . He could use the

updraft In meteorology, an updraft is a small-scale current of rising air, often within a cloud. Overview Localized regions of warm or cool air will exhibit vertical movement. A mass of warm air will typically be less dense than the surrounding regi ...

of a 10 m/s wind against a hill to remain stationary with respect to the ground, shouting to a photographer on the ground to manoeuvre into the best position for a photo. In 1893, in the Rhinow Hills, he was able to achieve flight distances as long as . This record remained unbeaten for him or anyone else at the time of his death. Lilienthal did research in accurately describing the flight of birds, especially

stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family called Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons an ...

s, and used polar diagrams for describing the

aerodynamics Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...

of their wings. He made many experiments in an attempt to gather reliable aeronautical data.

Projects

During his short flying career, Lilienthal developed a dozen models of

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

s, wing flapping aircraft and two

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

s."Pioneers of Flight: Otto Lilienthal."
''

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

.'' Retrieved: 8 January 2012. His gliders were carefully designed to distribute weight as evenly as possible to ensure a stable flight. Lilienthal controlled them by changing the

center of gravity In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force ma ...

by shifting his body, much like modern

hang glider Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame cover ...

s. They were difficult to manoeuvre and had a tendency to pitch down, from which it was difficult to recover. One reason for this was that he held the glider by his shoulders, rather than hanging from it like a modern hang glider. Only his legs and lower body could be moved, which limited the amount of weight shift he could achieve. Lilienthal made many attempts to improve stability with varying degrees of success. These included making a biplane which halved the wing span for a given wing area, and by having a hinged tailplane that could move upwards to make the flare at the end of a flight easier. He speculated that flapping wings of birds might be necessary and had begun work on such a powered aircraft. Bundesarchiv Bild 102-13741, Gustav Lilienthal und Paul Baylich

Bundesarchiv Bild 102-13741, Gustav Lilienthal und Paul Baylich

While his lifelong pursuit was flight, Lilienthal was also an inventor and devised a small engine that worked on a system of tubular

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centr ...

s. His engine was much safer than the other small engines of the time. This invention gave him the financial freedom to focus on

. His brother Gustav (1849–1933) was living in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

at the time, and Lilienthal did not engage in aviation experiments until his brother's return in 1885. There are 25 known Lilienthal patents.

Test locations

Lilienthal performed his first gliding attempts in mid-1891 at the so-called "Windmühlenberg" near to the villages of Krielow and Derwitz, west of Potsdam. In 1892, Lilienthal's training area was a hill formation called "Maihöhe" in Steglitz, Berlin. He built a high shed, in the shape of a tower, on top of it. This way, he obtained a "jumping off" place high. The shed served also for storing his apparatus.Chanute, O
"The Flying Man."
''Progress in Flying Machines.'' Retrieved: 16 November 2012. In 1893, Lilienthal also started to perform gliding attempts in the "Rhinower Berge", at the "Hauptmannsberg" near to Rhinow and later, in 1896, at the "Gollenberg" near to Stölln. In 1894, Lilienthal built an artificial conical hill near his home in Lichterfelde, called ''Fliegeberg'' (lit. "Fly Hill"). It allowed him to launch his gliders into the wind no matter which direction it was coming from. The hill was high. There was a regular crowd of people that were interested in seeing his gliding experiments. In 1932, the Fliegeberg was redesigned by a Berlin architect Fritz Freymüller as a memorial to Lilienthal. On top of the hill was built a small temple-like construction, consisting of pillars supporting a slightly sloping round roof. Inside is placed a silver globe inscribed with particulars of famous flights. Lilienthal's brother Gustav and the old mechanic and assistant Paul Baylich attended the unveiling ceremony on 10 August 1932 (36 years after Otto's death).

Worldwide notice

Reports of Lilienthal's flights spread in Germany and elsewhere, with photographs appearing in scientific and popular publications. Among those who photographed him were pioneers such as

Ottomar Anschütz Ottomar Anschütz (16 May 1846, in Lissa – 30 May 1907, in Berlin) was a German inventor, photographer, and chronophotographer Career Anschütz studied photography between 1864 and 1868 under the well-known photographers Ferdinand Beyrich ( ...

and American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

Robert Williams Wood Robert Williams Wood (May 2, 1868 – August 11, 1955) was an American physicist and inventor who made pivotal contributions to the field of optics. He pioneered infrared and ultraviolet photography. Wood's patents and theoretical work inform mo ...

. He soon became known as the "father of flight" as he had successfully controlled a heavier-than-air aircraft in sustained flight. Lilienthal was a member of the '' Verein zur Förderung der Luftschifffahrt'', and regularly detailed his experiences in articles in its journal, the ''Zeitschrift für Luftschifffahrt und Physik der Atmosphäre'', and in the popular weekly publication ''Prometheus''. These were translated in the United States, France and Russia. Many people from around the world came to visit him, including

Samuel Pierpont Langley Samuel Pierpont Langley (August 22, 1834 – February 27, 1906) was an American aviation pioneer, astronomer and physicist who invented the bolometer. He was the third secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and a professor of astronomy a ...

from the United States, Russian Nikolai Zhukovsky, Englishman

and Austrian

Wilhelm Kress Wilhelm Kress (29 July 1836 in Saint Petersburg – 24 February 1913 in Vienna) Born of German (Bavarian) parents in St. Petersburg in 1836. Moved to Vienna in 1873, where his self-propelled flying models attracted much attention. He became a na ...

. Zhukovsky wrote that Lilienthal's flying machine was the most important invention in the aviation field. Lilienthal corresponded with many people, among them

Octave Chanute Octave Chanute (February 18, 1832 – November 23, 1910) was a French-American civil engineer and aviation pioneer. He provided many budding enthusiasts, including the Wright brothers, with help and advice, and helped to publicize their flying ...

, James Means, Alois Wolfmüller and other flight pioneers.

Final flight

On 9 August 1896, Lilienthal went, as on previous weekends, to the Rhinow Hills. The day was very sunny and not too hot (about 20 °C, or 68 °F). The first flights were successful, reaching a distance of in his normal glider. During the fourth flight Lilienthal's glider pitched forward, heading down quickly. Lilienthal had previously had difficulty in recovering from this position because the glider relied on weight shift which was difficult to achieve when pointed at the ground. His attempts failed and he fell from a height of about , while still in the glider. Paul Beylich, Lilienthal's glider mechanic, transported him by horse-drawn carriage to

Stölln Gollenberg is a municipality in the Havelland district, in Brandenburg, Germany consisting of Schönholz-Neuwerder, Stölln and Ohnewitz. History The municipality is named after the Gollenberg near Stölln and was created December 31, 2002 when ...

, where he was examined by a physician. Lilienthal had a fracture of the third cervical vertebra and soon became unconscious. Later that day he was transported in a cargo train to Lehrter train station in

, and the next morning to the clinic of

Ernst von Bergmann Ernst Gustav Benjamin von Bergmann (16 December 1836 – 25 March 1907) was a Baltic German surgeon. He was the first physician to introduce heat sterilisation of surgical instruments and is known as a pioneer of aseptic surgery. Biography Bo ...

, one of the most famous and successful surgeons in Europe at the time. Lilienthal died there a few hours later (about 36 hours after the crash). There are differing accounts of Lilienthal's last words. A popular account, inscribed on his tombstone, is "" ("Sacrifices must be made!"). The director of the Otto Lilienthal Museum doubts that these were his last words. Otto Lilienthal was buried at

Lankwitz Lankwitz () is a German locality (''Ortsteil'') within the borough (''Bezirk'') of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Berlin. Until 2001 it was part of the former borough of Steglitz. History The locality was first mentioned in 1239 with the name of ''Lanko ...

public cemetery in Berlin.

Legacy

Lilienthal's research was well known to the Wright brothers, and they credited him as a major inspiration for their decision to pursue manned flight. They abandoned his aeronautical data after two seasons of gliding and began using their own wind tunnel data. Aviation Pioneer Lilienthal Bronze Plaque

Aviation Pioneer Lilienthal Bronze Plaque

Before its closure in 2020, Berlin's then busiest airport, Berlin Tegel "Otto Lilienthal" Airport, was named after him. In September 1909, Orville Wright was in Germany making demonstration flights at

Tempelhof Tempelhof () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. It is the location of the former Tempelhof Airport, one of the earliest commercial airports in the world. The former airport and surroundings are now a park called ...

aerodrome. He paid a call to Lilienthal's widow and, on behalf of himself and Wilbur, paid tribute to Lilienthal for his influence on aviation and on their own initial experiments in 1899. In 1972, Lilienthal was inducted into the

International Air & Space Hall of Fame The International Air & Space Hall of Fame is an honor roll of people, groups, organizations, or things that have contributed significantly to the advancement of aerospace flight and technology, sponsored by the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Sin ...

. In 2013, American aviation magazine '' Flying'' ranked Lilienthal No. 19 on their list of the "51 Heroes of Aviation". A German Air Force tanker,

Airbus A310 MRTT The Airbus A310 MRTT Multi-Role Tanker Transport is a military Aerial refuelling, air-to-air refuelling, or in-flight refuelling tanker transport aircraft, capable of operating :wikt:multirole, multi-role missions. The A310 MRTT tanker aircraf ...

registration 10-24, has been named "Otto Lilienthal" in his honour. The

Lilium Jet The Lilium Jet is a prototype German EVTOL, electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) electrically powered airplane designed by Lilium GmbH. A seven-seat production version is planned. History Initial design studies included forward-foldi ...

, a prototype German electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) electrically powered airplane and the company which designed it,

Lilium GmbH Lilium GmbH is a German aerospace company which is the developer of the Lilium Jet, an electrically powered personal air vehicle capable of VTOL flight. History Lilium GmbH was founded in 2015 by four engineers and PhD students at the Techni ...

, were named after him. An authentic replica of the ''Normalsegelapparat'' made by the Otto Lilienthal Museum have been investigated by the

German Aerospace Center The German Aerospace Center (german: Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., abbreviated DLR, literally ''German Center for Air- and Space-flight'') is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of Germany ...

wind tunnel Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...

and flight tests. The results prove that the glider was stable in pitch and roll and can be flown safely at moderate altitudes.

In popular culture

* Lilienthal was featured on a commemorative postmark in

in 1953. * Lilienthal plays a major part (''

in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in absen ...

'') in

Theodora Goss Theodora Goss (born September 30, 1968) is a Hungarian-American fiction writer and poet. Her writing has been nominated for major awards, including the Nebula, Locus, Mythopoeic, World Fantasy, and Seiun Awards. Her short fiction and poetry ...

's short story "The Wings of Meister Wilhelm," nominated for a

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous ann ...

and published in her anthology ''In the Forest of Forgetting''. * A Lilienthal glider serves as a major plot element in Paul Gazis's

Webserial Web fiction is written works of literature available primarily or solely on the Internet. A common type of web fiction is the web serial. The term comes from old serial stories that were once published regularly in newspapers and magazines. Unlike ...

"The Airship Flying Cloud, R-505". * "Lilienthals Traum" ("Lilienthal's Dream") is a song by

Reinhard Mey Reinhard Friedrich Michael Mey (born 21 December 1942) is a German "Liedermacher" (literally "songmaker", a German-style singer-songwriter). In France he is known as ''Frédérik Mey''. By 2009, Mey had released 27 German albums, and generally ...

that charts Lilienthal's flights and death. * "

Lilienthal Berlin Lilienthal Berlin is a German watch manufacturer based in the German capital Berlin. Lilienthal Berlin was founded in 2015 by Jacques Colman and Michael Gilli. The company name refers to the German aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal. The Lilientha ...

" is a German watch brand named after Otto Lilienthal

Gallery

Lilienthal was regularly joined by photographers at his request. Most of them are well known, like

. Lilienthal also took his own photographs of his flying machines after 1891.Lukasch, Bernd
"Lilienthal and Photography."
''Otto Lilienthal Museum.'' Retrieved: 13 January 2012. There are at least 145 known photographs documenting his test flights, some of excellent quality. All of them are available online at the Otto Lilienthal Museum website. The only negatives, preserved in the

Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science and technology, with about 28,000 exhibited objects from ...

in Munich, were destroyed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

."Lilienthal Photo archives."
''Otto Lilienthal Museum.'' Retrieved: 13 January 2012. File:MuehlenbergDerwitz.jpg, Flight attempt of Lilienthal on the

,
Derwitz, 1891 File:Otto is going to fly.jpg, Lilienthal preparing for a Small Ornithopter flight,
16 August 1894 File:More_otho_flying.JPG, ''Vorflügelapparat'',
29 May 1895 File:Lilienthal in flight.jpg, Normal soaring apparatus with the enlarged tail,
29 June 1895

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Anderson, John D. ''A History of Aerodynamics and Its Impact on Flying Machines.'' Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001, First edition 1999. . * Crouch, Tom D. ''The Bishop's Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright''. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1989. . * Jarret, Philip. "Soaring Inspiration: Otto Lilienthal's Influence in Britain". ''

Air Enthusiast ''Air Enthusiast'' was a British, bi-monthly, aviation magazine, published by the Key Publishing group. Initially begun in 1974 as ''Air Enthusiast Quarterly'', the magazine was conceived as a historical adjunct to '' Air International'' maga ...

'', No. 65, September–October 1996, pp. 2–7. . * Lilienthal, Otto
''Birdflight as the Basis of Aviation.''
First edition, 1911 reprinted 2001: . (Translation from German edition, Berlin 1889

reprinted 2003: .) * Nitsch, Stephan. ''Vom Sprung zum Flug (From the jump to the flight)''. Berlin, Brandenburgisches Verlagshaus, 1991. . Modified second edition: ''Die Flugzeuge von Otto Lilienthal. Technik - Dokumentation - Rekonstruktion. (The airplanes of Otto Lilienthal. Technique - Documentation - Reconstruction)''. Otto-Lilienthal-Museum Anklam, 2016. .

External links

of Otto Lilienthal

from Chanute's book ''Progress in Flying Machines'' 1893.

a 1967 ''Flight'' article * *Otto Lilienthal (1889
''Der Vogelflug als Grundlage der Fliegekunst''
- digital facsimile from

Linda Hall Library The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, sitting "majestically on a urban arboretum." It is the "largest independently funded public library of scien ...

*Otto Lilienthal (1911
''Birdflight as the basis of aviation, compiled from the results of numerous experiments made by O. and G. Lilienthal''
- digital facsimile from

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lilienthal, Otto 1848 births 1896 deaths 19th-century German aviation 19th-century German inventors Aviation inventors Aviation pioneers Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in Germany Engineers from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania German aerospace engineers German aviation record holders German glider pilots German people of Swedish descent Glider flight record holders Inventors killed by their own invention People from Anklam People from the Province of Pomerania Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1896