Paul Laubenthal (born in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

, date of birth unknown; died 8 June 1929 in

Böblingen Böblingen (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Beblenga'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, seat of Böblingen (district), Böblingen District. Sindelfingen and Böblingen are Geographic contiguity, contiguous. History Böblingen was found ...

) was a German

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

constructor and pilot.

Life

Dr. Paul Laubenthal was born as the son of a ship builder in Cologne. He was the brother of painter Fritz Laubenthal. Laubenthal was a pioneer of aircraft gliding in 1920s Germany, both as a pilot and as a constructor, most notably of the Laubenthal Württemberg and

Lore Lore may refer to: * Folklore, acquired knowledge or traditional beliefs * Oral lore or oral tradition, orally conveyed cultural knowledge and traditions Places * Loré, former French commune * Loré (East Timor), a city and subdistrict in Lau ...

single seat gliders. In 1928 Paul Laubenthal, along with fellow aviators Paul Röhre and Peter Hesselbach, was invited to the United States by the American Motorless Aviation Club. The objective of this extended visit was to introduce German gliding technology to the US and to help establish an American gliding school. During their stay, Hesselbach was able to set a new gliding record on July 29, staying in the air for 4 hours and 5 minutes. On June 8, 1929 Laubenthal crashed his aircraft at a flight show in Böblingen, Germany, dying instantly due to severe skull fractures''Flugsport 44'', No. 13/1929, Verlag für Flugsport, Frankfurt am Main

References

Year of birth missing 1929 deaths German aviators Glider pilots German aerospace engineers Engineers from Cologne Date of birth missing {{Aviation-bio-stub