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Otto Lilienthal Memorial: Portrait of the Pilot as a Young Angel

Otto Lilienthal was a pioneer of heavier-than-air glide flight. He studied the flight of birds, and transformed his insight systematically into practice. He was the first to routinely execute repeated glide flights, rigorously documenting his work. He developed an aircraft to serial production, and established the basis for the modern hang-glider aircraft. Lilienthal's Ikarus moment came 1896 when he stalled his glider and crashed to the ground, breaking his spine.