He was the first to understand the flight. No one before was able to observ like him and use an engineer mind for such a final outcome. Years a go I went in touch the Otto museum and requested some of his original books. It was amazing from an engineer point of view to see what he did and how he studied the problem of flight . Clearly history has not given him his deserved place. I recommend every one to read his books to understand the mind of passionated person.

As a 15-year-old I tried to build a glider for myself, after falling in love with Lilienthal’s design. I built it using an old shop awning lashed to a crude wooden frame, then tested it by running down the hill behind our cottage in Peasmarsh (Paul and Linda McCartney lived at the top of that hill, in fact). The thing actually took off! I had a split second to decide whether to keep going up point the nose down and crash. I opted to crash. Broke my ankle and was off school for two weeks. But I probably saved my life.

Thank you for this important reseach in aviation history. Otto was even the first hang glider pilot, flying 83 years before me. We were very aware of Otto as our historical reference at that time 1974. Bill Moyes and Bill Bennett was the new pioneers in hang gliding 1969. Flying with weight shifting as the only control have it's risks, because if you enter a strong downwind you lose your weight and subsequently ability to steer. I guess that was what ended Otto's life, as it almost did with my, more than once.

Wilbur Wright was always respectful and appreciative of the great accomplishments of Otto Lilienthal. The video is a great tribute to a great man.

What a great project and kudos to all involved in building, testing, and flying this glider!! I started hang gliding in 1974 and that is when I learned about Otto Lilienthal. So great to see you build and fly the original glider and do all the testing. He was so far ahead of his time!!

I remember reading about Lilienthal in elementary school. he may be one of the reasons I got my pilots license. Great vid.

Bought a hang glider in '73 and we flew it off the dunes above Lake Michigan at Elberta. Four of us relayed in the sweaty haul back up the hill.

Fantastic film giving credit to a great scientist & aviator and also the professor that showed so much courage in flying the reconstruction.

Great project! Lilienthal was the first real scientist pioner of aviation. He deserves to be much known by people.

Thank you to all involved for sharing this achievement. To witness the dedication and to see this piece of history recreated in such detail is fascinating and amazing.

Thank you for allowing us to watch what the first flights were like.

Basically the first successful glider, this can't be taken away from Mr Otto, Fast forward to the Wright Brother to get it right

7 seconds of pure joy! What a video!!!

Beautiful! Thank you for posting this.

Great build and bold flight experiments. Amazing that such a flying craft was designed so long ago.

That was impressive and well worth watching. Thank you for sharing this incredible story.

Magical! Congratulations to both Lilienthal and Raffel. Brave? Yes. Foolhardy? Probably. Brilliant? Without a doubt.

What a great fun these guys had recreating achievements of Otto!!!

Over fifty years ago I made a glider from old charts....I was on a ship in the south Atlantic...It wasn't particular scientific although I did understand the principal of having a curved wing, for lift. The main spar was tightly rolled and glued paper with the wing shape formed over it, it was about 1.5 metre wing span, The fuselage was formed in a similar fashion to the wing spar. The tail was formed in a similar fashion. I had to guess, educated guess, at the centre of gravity....When all was finished I sneaked it to the bridge whilst on watch with the Mate. It was a relatively calm, but a heavy rolling swell running. We stood on the wing of the bridge..... and launched my creation into a fifteen knot head wind created by the ship. The glider soared upwards then rolled towards the waves then to our surprise it skimmed the water like an Albatros. Its total flight time was between 10-15 seconds before it alight on the water ...and was gone...Watching this video of a pioneer of flight returned me to that day so long ago...

Oh, I love this. The brilliance and courage of Otto. A flying machine that the inventor was probably the only person who COULD fly it. I have to say that he died DOING his dream and inspiration. Flying.

This was awesome. If only Lilienthal could see his influence.

As a retired pilot I loved this historic legend aviation scientist's recreation to prove RHO for lift

Thank you! That is beautiful.

And now we have Paragliders that in the right air conditions can stay aloft for hours just using rising columns of air.

Wowww! This documentary is pure gold, these guys are real heros, I'm speachless.

I read of him and saw photos as a child. I've always remembered his name. I really had a thing for flying when I was a child.

That was awesome to watch, thanks for bringing it back and proving it can fly. 👍👍👍💯

¡Felicitaciones a todo el equipo! Por recrear éstos: 7 segundos para la eternidad. Con el espíritu sobre la genialidad de Don Otto Lilienthal Reciban mis saludos.

This is a great film! I started hang gliding in ‘78 and, of course, read about Otto. Watching the first flight in the wind tunnel and then on the winch, brought back so much. The short flight off the sand dunes reminds me of my first hops off a hill above Merthyr. Not much to beat this form of flying.

This project was carried out with typical German precision, and they clearly got to understand how the Lilienthal flying machine worked. But as a Hang Glider pilot from the very beggining , I know that trying to judge the flying characteristics of a glider like this on FLAT earth will not work very well. This type of flying machine needs the air to have a componant of rising up to meet the machine, as one has when flying it from a hill top. In their wind tunnel, the air was coming AT them, not UP to them and this is very important. When you stand on the top of a hill, you can feel the air coming up under you and all you need to do is take a couple of steps and the glider lifts up. Then you move you weight forwards, and the machine lowers its nose and moves forward, but because of the rising air the machine, also rises. This is exactly why the Lilienthal glider flew so successfully and is also the exact same way that modern day Hang Gliders fly. Otto was in essence the very first Hang Glider Pilot in the world!!

Just wonderful. Bravo. BRAVISSIMO

Congratulations on this amazing success. It took a lot of dedication and perseverance that I'm sure mimicked Lilienthal all the way down to the last bead of sweat heartbeat from an adrenaline filled flight. Proof positive his place in history is well deserved and eternally secure. Anything could have caused his crash, a gust of wind, fatigue or even a moment of broken concentration.

Amazing history.... Congratulations professor...

Gracias a todos los que produjeron este maravilloso documento y la recreación de una obra maestra de vuelo de Otto. Siempre me llamó la atención su diseño. Creo que no tiene su justo reconocimiento en la historia de la aviación, así que este video lo acerca a su correcto lugar en la historia, lo veré más de una vez.

Wow thank you all for this fantastic work and video

"Was it a fault in the material or was it a constructional defect?" I believe the idea that the storks don't flap their wings does not mean that their wings are rigid/fixed. Even in the video of the flying stork, a close observation reveals the wings are flexing, bending, turning, twisting. While it's subtle from a distance away, the wings are far from just randomly flexing from wind/loads. Hence, the major flaw in the assumption that it can be duplicated with a flexible model. None -the-less, He deserves the recognition and all the world-wide credit for his historical achievement!!

Just wonderful, I had never seen this beutiful glider before or the inventor.

Amazing, thank you for sharing!!!

You would have thought they would have used an experienced hang glider pilot to test fly it, after all it is obviously a weight shift controlled glider. Personally I would have stiffened up the tail somehow to make it safer for outdoor flying. Going from the drawings alone we can't really know how stiff Lilienthal's original structure was.

i am thrilled by how satisfying this is

I brought the plans for this glider to Home Depot. I went to the pvc/plumbing, plastic sheeting section, and the rope department and asked for help, their staff looked at the plans in each area, then me, and walked away. I was blocked from access to the duct tape isle and they confiscated my Home Depot charge card, mumbling something about liability and insurance risks and someone even mentioned needing mental evaluations... Thank you Otto, won't be making that mistake any more, next time will shop at Walmart, you should have warned us!

Very nice. I studied Otto Liliethal at school 50 years ago and very much wanted to build and fly my own glider, but didn't. He built an artificial hill 15 m (50 feet) high as he lived in a flat area with no suitable hills to launch from and I often admired the amount of work that would have taken.

Beautifully Done! ROCKMAN😎!

This is really awesome..😊 The way they took their time to build it from the beginning to the end is quite amazing.... good job guys..🤝 I remember building a human artificial wing in 2008 and it was successful...but the saddest part is that people keep doubting it because I'm from west Africa..🤦🏽 Although any moment from now I will shock my doubters by resurrecting that invention..🤝

Thank you for such a wonderful video♥️🕊️✈️

This is beautiful!

ESPETACULAR!!! CONGRATULAÇÕES DO BRASIL!!! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Has no one ever heard of Sir John Cayley and his 'man flyer'? Otto did some sterling work but he was NOT the first to experience heavier than air manned flight. Cayley's 'man flyer' flew in 1853 across Brompton Dale in Yorkshire. Wickepedia has a good description of his life and times. Much of his empirical research established the principles and the theory of aerofoils and is reputed to have been used by the Wright Brothers. There is a full size working replica of his man flyer to be seen in the Yorkshire Air Museum. It was used in a film and flown by Derek Piggot. But full kudos to the professor and his team.

Many thanks. Absolutely fascinating to watch. Lilienthal was truly the father of hang-gliding. I know that people are saying the ancient Chinese invented flight, but we do not have sufficient information about their machines. I should be patriotic and say that George Cayley in the UK created a primitive glider in the early 1850s. Later in the 1890s, another Englishman Percy Pilcher visited Lilienthal several times and was inspired by him, flying similar machines. Pilcher died back home after an in-flight structural failure in 1899. My thoughts as an ex-weight shift pilot: The tailplane should have been more controllable. I believe the high relative angle of incidence between the wing and the tailplane/stabiliser would keep the aircraft stable only within a narrow speed range. It was stable as set up, but diving/gaining speed would produce a rapid automatic nose-up correction that would keep the pilot very busy! It would have been a 'phugoid flyer' if flown long distance, I believe. That is not to dismiss any of the pioneering work that Lilienthal made, however - an amazing, talented person who gave his life for scientific progress.

like the story of Icarus, Otto's dream will always be relived by those that reach to the sky and push to go beyond!

Excellent Film! Inspiring.

Amazing. Thank you!.

I too had a fascination for flight from an early age. By 1976 Hang - gliding had arrived in Britain and at 30 years of age this was my introduction to real natural un-powered flight from the beautiful coastal resort of Rhossily on the Gower coast of Wales . After my first two seater flight on a seated Highway glider with an instructor. After a top to bottom flight from 600ft I was HOOKED! My last flight was on a second hand Highway Demon glider from Merthyr Common in 1989 , my longest flight being 3Hrs. Later at the tender age of 6o I was able to obtain a NPPL licence flying a Cessna 150 , but regard my time on Hang-gliders the most exiting and natural way to fly . Hi! to Martin Hann by the way, what great days the were in the SE Wales Hang -Gliding Club.

Another similar pioneer was Gustav Whitehead. He was an early engine builder for the time. He went further by adding his engine to a Lilienthal style glider. Reports are that he flew it often, before the wright brothers, but wasnt documented properly. Credit should be given to early pioneers who had success. The Wright Brothers invented aeronautics but they werent first to fly.

the scene of the pilot letting go of the controls and slowly getting out of the machine gives me a very strange feeling. It's beautiful.

the proof is absolutely provided by these people! respect! now having seen this you would like to shout more more, but on the other hand, you shouldn't take any unnecessary risks! Friendly greetings from The Netherlands! Rob👍

... good job on your presentation..

Bellissima riproduzione!

24:46 That's falling, with style.

Fantastic!

First in flight of any kind (hot air balloon): Jean Pilatre de Rozier First in unpowered heavier than air flight: Otto Lilienthal First in powered heavier than air flight: Orville Wright The Wright brothers flew unpowered heavier than air gliders successfully for years prior to their first successful powered flight. Blimps and Rigid Airships flew from 1852 to the present with a variety of accomplishments during that time. Filled the gap in the time between hot air balloons and the Wrights first powered flight.

A very interesting book on the subject is by David Gierke, "To Caress the Air". It is based on the civil case of A.Herring vs. Glenn Curtis and in it you will find the involvement of A Herring and powered flight.

In order to reduce the total weight of the aircraft, all bamboo rounded by rope will make it durable and is to be used instead of wooden rod in modification. A vertical enclosed bamboo loop is also to be installed and tied in the front part of the aircraft as the support for airman's feet and used as a step for his up and down jumping movement and such movement is similar to add energy to the wings during flying. No energy to be transferred to wings movement won't fly longer. Moreover, an additional of two parachutes to be installed at the left and right wings which would be opened after flying to increase uplift forces when required. I think that it will fly longer and land safely after modification.

Well done. Very brave!

Undoubtedly Lilienthal was a keen observer of bird's wings and he put his observations to work in developing one of the World's First Gliders. Very nice recreation of the original.

Great Video !

Awesome !

Otto would be proud!

Excellent

an english guy called percy pilcher was the first guy to fly a flex wing a few years before otto ironically he also died under his wing

Showwww! Voar e sentir o que os desbravadores sentiram! Parabéns!

Parabéns a esta equipe que realizou um projeto que muitos, talvez jamais diria que funcionaria.

There is no doubt about Lilienthal's status in the history of man's efforts to fly. He inspired the Wright brothers with his successes and the data he recorded. However, the same brothers came close to giving up when the same data proved inadeqaute for the next step towards sustained flight under power. That they did not was due to their sister exposing them to the inferior efforts of well financed institutes thus giving them a second wind. It also put their failure using Lilienthal's data into perspective as other than a failure. Who cannot enjoy the tangible reality this project brings to a piece of world history but al three of the men I mention were only interested in where they had been for where it might take them next.

Wow... !!! My best friend, It's always great. I wish you every day of your development. Have a happy day!

That was the greatest invention, indeed! Great respect for him, moreover note that people new nothing about aerodynamics... Later the famous Soviet aircraft engineer Andrey Tupolev said that "give me a great engine and I'll make a brick fly"

OUTSTANDING

Looks like a Beautiful thing.

Man has some guts to free fly that bird. Terrific job sir.

Good job!

Since man had flown a hundred years early, and higher up to 30,000 ft and longer; I dare say there are aircraft that did not rely on Lilienthals insights. It was only 3 years later that the first Zeppline was built and flew several miles in 1900.

Amazing!

Great,,,We waiting for next experiment video.

Wow, that's a great video. I will always cheer for you in Korea I'm looking forward to a great video. Have a nice day.

Tremendous !

Amazing

Everybody talks about the Wright brothers but never give enough credit to Otto Lilienthal !

This is a really Cool, semi-Controllable manned flight experience !! .....Remember,....Don't Fly any Higher than you want to Fall !!!

I was in Sand City California dozens of times. They fly paragliders there. Respect to all aviators.

Awesome 👌 👏 👍

All the best to your beautiful Channel hopefully your subscribers and viewers will keep increasing 🇴🇲

Amazing 👌.

I live right near Sand City, wish I would have known, definitely would have watched this!

Exalted idea of super bro good bless you 🌹

I agree Lidmark; but if you look at the title they say "first in flight" Also it appears by their video that really this glider was incapable of being launched without a head wind and may not have had enough lift even then to lift a normal size human into equiliibrium ; ie it would immediatley start to decend even going 50 kph. I think he understood the principles - thats true; and perhaps if he didn't die he would have built a real glider that actually flew without a head wind and might actually rise without having to go 50 Kph.

I'm amazed at how many people don't grasp what Lilienthal did - so many here don't understand he was in control. Gliding is flying. When an eagle is soaring - is he not flying? Whoever said the wings need to be narrower and longer doesn't understand that such configuration would make it less controllable in a weight shifting glider. Was Lilienthal the first man to ride a glider? No. But Lilienthal rode a glider thousands of times, in public, and he inspired others - something that attempts before the 19th century didn't do.

what? no rolls or jumping from a skyscraper? pfpff joking! Remarkable journey and amazing success. congrats to everyone involved and the many hours of sweat, tears and joy

Very cool

Brilliant

Lilienthal was at least the "first" documented. Their were many throughout history that were very observant and were capable of analyzing and comprehending how wings on a bird worked, understanding the form and function, and the necessary structural specs required. Unfortunately in many cultures, deviating from traditional behaviors of the day, one could be labeled a heretic, a crazy person, for the old saying, if God wanted man to fly, he would have given him wings. Many were probably put to death for wanting to fly like a witch. The term, Mad Scientist developed over centuries. Religion, I believe, set back man at least 1000 years.

Ja das war ein großer Schritt in der weiter Entwicklung von Fluggeräten!