EN Otto Lilienthal: "FIRST IN FLIGHT" - 7 Seconds for Eternity

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  • Опубліковано 7 січ 2025

КОМЕНТАРІ • 736

  • @richard_loosemore
    @richard_loosemore 2 роки тому +274

    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.

    • @m.i.c.h.o
      @m.i.c.h.o 2 роки тому +5

      Wow! How big was the hill? I wouldn't think that would be life or death...

    • @bernardorodrigues6410
      @bernardorodrigues6410 2 роки тому +9

      Wow. Congrats on your build man. Will you build a better version?

    • @michaelboyko5024
      @michaelboyko5024 2 роки тому +8

      Respected, sir! Was after your flight McCartney wrote his song "Distractions like butterflys are puzzling over my head"?

    • @riazhassan6570
      @riazhassan6570 2 роки тому +18

      I was fifteen when I jumped off a high wall with a wing-like contraption made of bamboo poles and old sheets. I landed with a tangled thump on soft dirt. Luckily, nothing broke except the wing. Thereafter I ventured a powered gyroplane somewhat like the ones that submarines towed in WW2, with welded steel tubes and an old motorcycle engine. Luckily, it lurched to one side and shook itself to death on the very first attempt to move. Some kind of alarm must have entered my obtuse teenage brain, because I never tried anything bigger than models afterwards

    • @captainjj7184
      @captainjj7184 2 роки тому +16

      Bought several aluminum pipes with months of saved school lunch money to build my own glider but then my dad used 'em all up to fix the house windows. Fast forward, waay forward, last month in fact, I decided to jump off a ledge in an attempt to float down with the biggest umbrella I've ever bought. The thing collapsed into an inverted dart tumbling me into the asphalt road - luckily no broken bones, just crying in pain. My daughter who was filming was cracking up unstoppably. Congrats man, you went ahead and actually did it. You might not want to try again, but as for me, I haven't used up my turn yet, so... wish me luck for my next, real big try!

  • @audiophile1024
    @audiophile1024 2 роки тому +69

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

    • @michaelladigo2395
      @michaelladigo2395 Рік тому +11

      Yes, but the Wrights ended up re-doing all of Lilienthal's tables and concepts of lift in order to achieve actual powered, controlled, and continuous flight. Lilienthal's "flights" were mere semi-controlled descents down a hill. Weight-shift is not truly a proper means of control and is what inevitably what killed him. Wrights were "First In Flight". Sorry.

    • @BasementEngineer
      @BasementEngineer Рік тому +2

      @@michaelladigo2395 Define FLIGHT.

    • @jonnyolson4387
      @jonnyolson4387 Рік тому +8

      @@michaelladigo2395 The Wrights achieved mechanical directional control first, but Lilienthal was the first to fly in a controlled manner: A weight shift hang glider is FLYING. Hundreds of powered weight shift airplanes fly everyday. The Wright Brothers conclusions on airfoil design were incorrect because their wind tunnel was using airfoils that were too short and the air was moving too slowly. The Reynolds number (chord, speed, density, viscosity ) was way off and the Wrights airfoil was far from the correct shape for the speed they were going and the chord length of the wing. Their incorrect airfoils were detrimentally used by the US up threw WW1. The correctly shaped 2 surface wings of Fokker and German wind tunnel data finally proved how wrong the Wrights were.

    • @agauerm
      @agauerm 4 місяці тому +2

      @@jonnyolson4387 nope, it was Santos Dumont who did it

    • @cfranko1860
      @cfranko1860 4 місяці тому

      @@agauerm Silence Brazilian. The Wright brothers were the first. Weight shifting is control, but no power = no flight.

  • @johnbrant2454
    @johnbrant2454 2 роки тому +25

    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!!

    • @tedmoss
      @tedmoss 2 роки тому

      That is a dangerous machine.

    • @henrykdoruch8056
      @henrykdoruch8056 2 роки тому

      @@tedmoss
      =big mistace=NOT autostabil ("S"-shaped) airfoils !!!

    • @barahng
      @barahng 2 місяці тому +1

      @@tedmoss Technology doesn't advance without risk.

  • @tsfullerton
    @tsfullerton 2 роки тому +12

    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.

  • @bradruffalo
    @bradruffalo 2 роки тому +50

    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.

  • @jakerazmataz852
    @jakerazmataz852 Рік тому +3

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

  • @atlet1
    @atlet1 2 роки тому +59

    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.

    • @connormclernon26
      @connormclernon26 2 роки тому +1

      I thought it was a stall that killed him

    • @atlet1
      @atlet1 2 роки тому +2

      @@connormclernon26 Why? He was an experienced pilot, engineer and inventor of aerodynamics. Stalling should have been known an practiced.

    • @henrykdoruch8056
      @henrykdoruch8056 2 роки тому

      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Wn%C4%99k
      =more in English...

    • @vracan
      @vracan Рік тому +3

      @@atlet1 if headwind turned into downwind suddenly then the wing essentially stalled, and at low altitude very hard to recover.

    • @atlet1
      @atlet1 Рік тому +2

      @@vracan yes, that can happen too. I recognize, when I read my own comments, that I used the wrong word. Brobably fall wind would be a better word.

  • @gordonmutten1750
    @gordonmutten1750 2 роки тому +13

    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.

    • @TronBonneVonne
      @TronBonneVonne Рік тому +1

      He died in 1896. There was no glider expert, aviation was not invented yet.

    • @daronb100
      @daronb100 25 днів тому

      I agree. His first attempts in the wind tunnel had him weight shifting the wrong way to correct the glider so it’s roll we’re just getting crazier.

  • @robedmunds7163
    @robedmunds7163 2 роки тому +6

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

  • @martinhann1672
    @martinhann1672 Рік тому +4

    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.

    • @peterblake5977
      @peterblake5977 Рік тому

      Hi Martin , a great film indeed , it brought back those exiting memories just before take off and impending flight on many of the site that the SE. Wales club flew . Cheers !!

  • @wrong_brother
    @wrong_brother Рік тому +9

    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.

    • @georgerobartes2008
      @georgerobartes2008 4 місяці тому

      Sir George Cayley recognised by NASA as the Father of Floght , laid down the principles of aeronautics still used today and known for the first manned flight at Brompton Hall in Yorkshire , England .

  • @kat13man
    @kat13man 2 роки тому +5

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

  • @donedwardchapman4514
    @donedwardchapman4514 Рік тому +21

    No one has said anything about Sir George Caley, many years before this German attempt !! In Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

    • @georgerobartes2008
      @georgerobartes2008 4 місяці тому

      Recognised by the Wrights and later NASA as the " Father of Flight " .

  • @voice_of_change
    @voice_of_change 2 роки тому +6

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

    • @danvision5086
      @danvision5086 2 роки тому

      *en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traian_Vuia*

  • @Lord_Ronin_The_Compassionate
    @Lord_Ronin_The_Compassionate 2 роки тому +7

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

  • @brianperry
    @brianperry 2 роки тому +17

    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...

  • @mikepowell2776
    @mikepowell2776 2 роки тому +5

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

  • @saucerguy3
    @saucerguy3 2 роки тому +9

    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!

    • @casychapin4647
      @casychapin4647 2 роки тому +2

      as a home depot employee and a fan of aviation history I would have been fascinated and i would love to help you find parts, but ive met people in the store who are doing dangerous things, and there are things we cant help with. if i thought somebody didnt have the technical understanding to tackle this, i would probably recommend the to build a kite version to understand, as i believe the wright brothers did

    • @saucerguy3
      @saucerguy3 2 роки тому +1

      @@casychapin4647 I would want to go to your store and be the person I talk to along assembling the supplies and tools I need for the project. I would also grab some random, cheap tool on the way out. Upon check out, I would be certain to require a check out person help me upon and casually tell them what I am building, and that you were the person to help me gather the tools and supplies. That I was only there to purchase, x tool only, that last one I grabbed on the way out, and imply these extra purchases for what I am making was your idea..... lol. I was joking on my original response, still, on a serious note, I do in fact buy things for remote control aircraft builds and the foam that's normally being used for insulation is one of my go-to materials on many of my builds, so I do mention to them if I need their help, what the stock is for, and it's always cool seeing a smile on their faces knowing it's going for something cool, not merely stuck inside of some wall.

    • @peterblake5977
      @peterblake5977 Рік тому

      Goes to show what a narrow minded world we now live in . I doubt if the wheel would have been invented if humans had been this risk adverse back then!

  • @jessasto947
    @jessasto947 2 роки тому +4

    "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!!

  • @fritzbraunberger1336
    @fritzbraunberger1336 5 днів тому

    The first weight shift glider to be wind tunnel tested was the Stratus III, by Jim Lynn. The full size glider was tested at NASA Aims Research center on about Feb 1975 in Moffett Field, Palo Alto. It was a very successful test. Immediately after test flown by Fritz Braunberger off of Ft. Funston near San Francisco, CA.

  • @malibu188
    @malibu188 2 роки тому +7

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

  • @MayMay-fe2ki
    @MayMay-fe2ki 2 роки тому +1

    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.

  • @peterblake5977
    @peterblake5977 Рік тому +1

    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.

  • @Pintuuuxo
    @Pintuuuxo 2 роки тому +3

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

  • @tomarmstrong1281
    @tomarmstrong1281 2 роки тому +8

    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.

  • @suminagum6605
    @suminagum6605 Рік тому +1

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

  • @claudiogarcia8860
    @claudiogarcia8860 Рік тому +3

    Just wonderful. Bravo. BRAVISSIMO

  • @ThoughtfulAl
    @ThoughtfulAl Рік тому +1

    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.

  • @ricardomunozcastro838
    @ricardomunozcastro838 2 роки тому +8

    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.

  • @danhaywood5696
    @danhaywood5696 2 роки тому +2

    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.

  • @ipodman1910
    @ipodman1910 Рік тому +1

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

  • @chibuikeibe6812
    @chibuikeibe6812 2 роки тому +9

    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..🤝

    • @TronBonneVonne
      @TronBonneVonne Рік тому

      You should be proud! Keep striving to achieve your goal, and fly freely with your own glider or wing.

  • @deamondhebil606
    @deamondhebil606 2 роки тому +3

    Amazing history....
    Congratulations professor...

  • @orvjudd1383
    @orvjudd1383 2 роки тому +14

    Wonderful recreation of the Lillienthal glider. I did notice that there is instability of the tail relative to the wing. I don’t know if that was taken into account by Otto. I wonder if modifying his design to stabilize the relative movement of the tail would help or hinder the flight characteristics?

    • @mr.mcbeavy1443
      @mr.mcbeavy1443 2 роки тому +3

      You ain't kidding brother, that thing was flapping around like it was made with toothpicks and rubber bands. Definitely could stand some reinforcement.

    • @MarkShinnick
      @MarkShinnick 2 роки тому +2

      With my own models, mere random flexes made no big difference; it's the average that seems be important.

    • @lcfflc3887
      @lcfflc3887 2 роки тому +2

      it would definitely help increase the flight time by been able to pitch the nose up and down with the stabilizer but back then probably didn't have and accurate idea of what a bird's tail is really supposed to do, whe you look at a bird flying, tail looks fixed in one position only, when.

  • @Basque_Planet
    @Basque_Planet Рік тому

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

  • @CandC68
    @CandC68 Рік тому +1

    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.

  • @travelbugse2829
    @travelbugse2829 2 роки тому +20

    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.

    • @travelbugse2829
      @travelbugse2829 2 роки тому +3

      I forgot to add, a big thankyou to everyone involved in the project.

    • @MJ-iy4fb
      @MJ-iy4fb 2 роки тому +1

      Actually it was Bill Gates who invented flight.

    • @soaruk3697
      @soaruk3697 2 роки тому +1

      @@travelbugse2829 You also forgot to mention Cayley's glider did fly and it is well documented as such. Several reconstructions of Cayley's machine have also been successfully flown. There seem to be some German propogandists around these days that are promoting Lilienthal to be the first in flight and the 'father of flight', they are totally wrong, and the honour rightfully belongs to Cayley.

    • @danvision5086
      @danvision5086 2 роки тому

      *en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traian_Vuia*

    • @thomasleemullins4372
      @thomasleemullins4372 2 роки тому +2

      Leonardo De Vinci had an airplane design but no one knows if he actually built and flew it.

  • @Aengus42
    @Aengus42 2 роки тому +2

    Beautiful! Thank you for posting this.

  • @Darksagan
    @Darksagan 2 роки тому +4

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

  • @theprisoner163
    @theprisoner163 4 місяці тому

    Learned to fly hang gliders in 1974 and later taught lessons near Sand City. A place called Marina Beach. I always revered Otto Lilienthal as the first hang glider pilot.

    • @MarkusRaffel
      @MarkusRaffel 3 місяці тому

      Marina Beach State Park north of Sand City was indeed the place where I flew the normal soaring apparatus replica as well as the Large Bi-Plane and Otto”s Experimental Pono plane together with Andy Beem (Windsports, LA) and George Reeves.

  • @SternLX
    @SternLX 2 роки тому +7

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

  • @Pedro40932
    @Pedro40932 2 роки тому +3

    ¡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.

    • @pablolopez8724
      @pablolopez8724 2 роки тому +1

      no crees que con alas mas grande podría volar correctamente?

  • @jamesvaliensi7706
    @jamesvaliensi7706 2 роки тому +2

    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.

  • @SoloRenegade
    @SoloRenegade 2 роки тому +3

    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.

    • @SoloRenegade
      @SoloRenegade Рік тому

      @@TugIronChief that's a new one. now prove it.

    • @kkteutsch6416
      @kkteutsch6416 4 місяці тому +1

      The first to fly hot air ballons were Montgolfier brothers and a brazilian father Bartolomeu de Gusmao with public assistance ...

    • @SoloRenegade
      @SoloRenegade 4 місяці тому

      @@kkteutsch6416 good correction

  • @ronkirk5099
    @ronkirk5099 28 днів тому

    Back in the day when I flew hanggliders, my favorite T shirt featured a picture of Otto Lilienthal flying his historic glider. He was one of the giants of aviation whose shoulders we were standing on to reach the clouds.

  • @dvfpv
    @dvfpv 2 місяці тому

    Amazing 👌
    Fascinating to see old creations and first attempts!

  • @francisdebriey3609
    @francisdebriey3609 2 місяці тому

    OMG, congratulations ! This is true genuine science. This team and Otto are now in History with big H.

  • @hobbyrob313
    @hobbyrob313 2 роки тому +2

    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👍

  • @peters972
    @peters972 2 роки тому +3

    Thank you! That is beautiful.

  • @jamesengland7461
    @jamesengland7461 2 роки тому +2

    It appears from the wind tunnel tests that the pilot sits right at the center of pressure, or even behind, rendering it unstable unless he pulls his weight forward slightly, moving his weight, and the center of gravity, slightly ahead of the center of pressure, making it stable and controllable. But what's with that flapping, loose empennage? Not only is airflow to it blocked by the wing, it seems very passive.

  • @MichaelMcFearin
    @MichaelMcFearin 2 роки тому +4

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

  • @waynegilchrist1596
    @waynegilchrist1596 Рік тому

    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.

  • @IouiS82
    @IouiS82 Рік тому

    Yes
    ,but in 1894 Lawrence Hargraves flew his Box kite designs at Stanwell Tops, Sth of Sydney Australia.
    These designs which the Wright brothers, who had been in correspondence with were the designs they adopted.
    Credit due, but often Hargraves work is forgotten.

  • @Juan-ll6sf
    @Juan-ll6sf Рік тому +2

    A break on a control thread string wire probably caused Lilienthal's glider crash.

  • @jbird6609
    @jbird6609 Рік тому +5

    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.

    • @jbird6609
      @jbird6609 Рік тому +1

      I was a high school kid in the late 60s. I built several hangliders, that skimmed the ground . We were considered wierdos and disrespected. Fortunately I saw the danger and quit before they killed me. During that time there were many deaths to young experimenters. . Today there are standards that hangliders must meet to be safe. Our progress has been made on the shoulders of those who came and died before us, like Otto. If you look at those picture of him way back then, he was muscular looking, strong and intelligent. Like someone i might have known when i was his age. Honor history, salute to Otto Lilienthal.

    • @lj5632
      @lj5632 4 місяці тому

      Dumont was the summit .made the first fully controlled with all steps of flying and won the paris international prize with witness and never asked any patent and never wanted to profit from it. wright were grifters

    • @MartinReeve-r5l
      @MartinReeve-r5l 3 місяці тому

      Richard Pearce from New Zealand could of been first to fly also

  • @redliv
    @redliv Рік тому

    That was beautiful, I wonder if they can make another one using modern materials and technology applied

  • @slartybartfarst9737
    @slartybartfarst9737 2 роки тому

    Wow thank you all for this fantastic work and video

  • @simonpenny2564
    @simonpenny2564 4 місяці тому

    Great to see. I* was a Lilienthal enthusiast 40 years ago.
    3.00 'in those days of course the strucure of the cloth was created without a punchcard'. I wouldn't be so sure, thats a Jaquard loom, they'd been around for 100 years by then - the first truly programmable machine, as all computer history nerds know.

  • @j.ericswede7084
    @j.ericswede7084 2 роки тому +2

    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.

    • @cablecar3683
      @cablecar3683 Рік тому +4

      That's where you're wrong, in Imperial Britain, a man by the name of Sir George Cayley made a glider with the keen importance parts of aircraft, lift, thrust, gravity, and drag in mind, the design has the wing and tail section suspended with solid material and the little carriage on the bottom of the plane, the source I got this information from is AmazingViz's First in Aviation 3D, which shows two planes before the Wright Flyer, the glider I just mentioned and also another areoplane powered by three engines with three propellers, in 1888 made in France and is now displayed in a museum in Paris, 35 years after the 1853 British glider, which makes it the real World's First Glider, before Otto Lilienthal.

    • @j.ericswede7084
      @j.ericswede7084 Рік тому +1

      @@cablecar3683 Duly noted and original comment updated. Thank you.

  • @tolitsdterrible4785
    @tolitsdterrible4785 2 роки тому +4

    Have they considered the height and weight of Lilienthal? I believed he designed the glider's wing size and strength based on his own body statistics.

    • @tohaason
      @tohaason Рік тому +1

      Good point. The pilot in the video is a big guy (though slim). I'm thinking that an actual hangglider pilot of shorter lighter stature would be a better match than a tall airplane pilot?

  • @1DesertPirate
    @1DesertPirate 4 місяці тому

    Building Lilienthal's glider from his own design using original as could be gathered and made materials was a fascinating and historical project. I wonder who of these scientists, aeronautical engineers and builders ever read or saw anything of the Wills brothers in southern California. The Wills brothers knew of Lilienthal and his glider, and built their own gliders from scratch and would up flying for miles and staying airborne for hours. They basically reinvented the hang glider and built up a successful, for a time, hang glider company. I bought a hang glider in 1974 and taking off into the air is a remarkable experience, one Otto did for the first time back in 1891. His insight into flight by watching storks fly overhead and studying a bird's wings is a seminal part of the history of flight.

  • @bigglestheflyboy
    @bigglestheflyboy Рік тому +1

    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!!

  • @mikedunn7795
    @mikedunn7795 Рік тому +2

    Wasn't Lilienthal's craft basically a hang glider?

  • @johngallagher912
    @johngallagher912 2 роки тому +59

    Your film makes it sound like Otto crashed on his first flight. Otto Lilienthal flew gliders about two thousand times over a period of five years before his fatal flight.

    • @tedmoss
      @tedmoss 2 роки тому +5

      No one said that.

    • @BGBengtsson
      @BGBengtsson 2 роки тому +7

      Check from 5m15s-

    • @slicedlimes7948
      @slicedlimes7948 2 роки тому +5

      This was literally mentioned in the video

    • @tolitsdterrible4785
      @tolitsdterrible4785 2 роки тому +3

      Then, you have a hearing problem. Time to have your ears checked.

    • @michaelnorris4629
      @michaelnorris4629 2 роки тому +1

      It is very possible to crash without being killed. I did many times using a hang glider and once in my plane.

  • @Goldenboy-sc4fg
    @Goldenboy-sc4fg Рік тому

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

  • @MarkusRaffel
    @MarkusRaffel 3 місяці тому +2

    Whoever flew before Otto forgot to tell the others how it works. After Otto’s flight demonstrations, people started flying all over the world. History books are full of stories about men who flew earlier, but even if they were all true, no one changed the course of history.

  • @chrisbamborough222
    @chrisbamborough222 4 місяці тому

    Sir George Caley in Yorkshire England flew his first model Glider in 1804 and a successful flight was made in a manned Glider with his footman as Pilot in 1853. This was the first Glider flight useing the understanding the principles of Weight,Thrust,Drag and Lift in the design which he discovered and recorded . The Wright Brothers used those principles in their design in the first powered flight,NASA accept Caley as the Father of Aviation as he was the first to understand the principles of flight.

  • @litestuffllc7249
    @litestuffllc7249 2 роки тому +1

    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.

  • @koreanature
    @koreanature 2 роки тому

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

  • @cg7509
    @cg7509 2 роки тому +2

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

    • @Andrew-13579
      @Andrew-13579 2 роки тому

      They had this glider in California. I wonder if they had given thought to flying it off the cliff at Torrey Pines, CA.

  • @FranklinNewhart
    @FranklinNewhart 3 місяці тому

    I bet that looks good in his log book. Having different aircraft certification is always a proud thing.

  • @elliottdiedrich3068
    @elliottdiedrich3068 4 місяці тому +2

    They were so careful on getting all of the details correct, but I was a little disappointed that he didn't wear lederhosen and high socks. Would have been so easy.

  • @gilbertgauger3380
    @gilbertgauger3380 Рік тому +1

    I am very curious to know if there is any historical evidence of Lillianthlal’s determination of the proper center of gravity for his glider.

  • @lucianosschlieper
    @lucianosschlieper Рік тому

    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.

  • @jamesfulerten8494
    @jamesfulerten8494 Рік тому

    It need flaps that are controlled by levers on each side by hand. Pull back the lever and the flap on the left gos down let go and it goes up using a spring. The same for the other side.

  • @rafikulahamed959
    @rafikulahamed959 2 роки тому

    Great,,,We waiting for next experiment video.

  • @michaelboyko5024
    @michaelboyko5024 2 роки тому +14

    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"

    • @kkteutsch6416
      @kkteutsch6416 2 роки тому

      Americans used this concept of Tupolev during the II war in various aircraft projects, doing them around even more powering radial engines....

    • @tedmoss
      @tedmoss 2 роки тому +1

      People knew about birds, so knew about aerodynamics. They just didn't know much. For example the birds wing is curved and the tail is used to steer like a rudder on a boat.

    • @michaelboyko5024
      @michaelboyko5024 2 роки тому

      @@tedmoss well, people new birds for millions of years. But how few it turned out when it came time to construct a air plane wing! First, the profile of it... Aha, now starts the new unpaved road

  • @djones-np8ik
    @djones-np8ik Рік тому +2

    While this is yet another step towards flight, it ignores the earlier contributions of George Caley the "Father of Flight" whose coachman was the pilot for his heavier than air gliders in successfully flying in 1853. So yes Otto was the first inventor to test his own devices, but history had already been made!

  • @SkidzFPV
    @SkidzFPV 3 місяці тому

    Very cool, I’ve paraglided at sand city. Good soaring site.

  • @stevenwilliams2601
    @stevenwilliams2601 Рік тому +1

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

  • @metalwheelz
    @metalwheelz Рік тому

    You guys should take it to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina for an exhibition.

  • @qoutada8241
    @qoutada8241 Рік тому +1

    Abba's ben fernnas is the one em i right?

  • @JoeOvercoat
    @JoeOvercoat Рік тому

    The updraft on those dunes is substantial, to say the least. I was surprised at how steep the glide slope was, given that.

    • @colinschaeffer3940
      @colinschaeffer3940 Рік тому +1

      The steep grade is the only way Lilienthal could "fly".

    • @sailorman8668
      @sailorman8668 Рік тому +1

      The glider has a very poor glide ratio due to its inherently large level of drag and angle of attack.
      Even with updrafts, the glide ratio will never be outstanding.

  • @thylacinenv
    @thylacinenv 4 місяці тому

    Sir George Cayley's reluctant coachman flew in 1853 predating Otto Lillienthal's outstanding success. Both Bill Frost of Wales in 1896 and Gustav Whitehead of USA in 1981 reportedly achieved powered flight, Frost's first flight achieved a distance of 500mtrs. Orville Wright went to a lot of trouble to discredit Whitehead in order to protect the Wright's historic claim, some consider that somewhat suspicious.

    • @Tom-jw7ii
      @Tom-jw7ii 24 дні тому

      Gustave Whitehead was very obviously just a liar. He claimed to have built engines that would’ve had performance decades ahead of their time, and to have built a plane capable of flying 100 mph and making full turns just by the pilot shifting his weight. Even in 1916 that would’ve been a good airplane. Yet for some reason, he quickly abandoned all his designs, and nothing ever came of any of it.
      With Frost’s design, just reading his description of how it was supposed to work is proof enough that it never flew. It’s basically just the first way you’d think to make a flying machine after realizing that flapping like a bird won’t cut it. Just a fan to go up, and wings to glide down. It only seems like a good idea if you don’t really understand how either wings or fans work. And of course there’s the question of how he got an engine light and powerful enough for a helicopter in 1896, and why he never tried to rebuild it if it actually worked.

  • @MisterDivineAdVenture
    @MisterDivineAdVenture Рік тому

    The TAIL BOOM is ridiculous. What was he thinking?? This should be a completely different construction. I would start with a triangular box structure with at least a 5x rigidity (resistance to flexing in any axis.) I think you could do that using those same materials with only slight weight penalty overall. It's also probably too long, and the horizontal wing/flap is not attached well enough. You could also add a pilot standing hoop stirrup of cable with little weight penalty but that would be overkill given hang-glider training.

  • @constpegasus
    @constpegasus Рік тому

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

  • @David-oi7im
    @David-oi7im Рік тому

    ... good job on your presentation..

  • @ponyrang
    @ponyrang 2 роки тому

    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.

  • @ottosfamily4604
    @ottosfamily4604 2 роки тому +1

    Having Otto in your name seems to be connected to many great inventors of the world. My last name is Otto and I have inventions I’m working on🧐

  • @ehrenmurdick
    @ehrenmurdick 2 роки тому

    Great video but I do kinda wish there was more than 7 seconds of music on loop

  • @LaszloKramer-s9k
    @LaszloKramer-s9k Рік тому

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

  • @luizmattos9031
    @luizmattos9031 Рік тому +1

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

  • @bwfvc7770
    @bwfvc7770 2 роки тому

    Otto Lilienthals sister married and lived in Oamaru NZ around the same time Richard Pearse was doing his thing but there is no record of them having met.

  • @colinschaeffer3940
    @colinschaeffer3940 Рік тому

    From Greg's Airplanes article "The Wright Brothers Did Invent The Airplane!" lilienthal built gliders which flew off
    8:00
    the side of a hill he controlled his gliders by shifting his weight around the drawback to this method is that the
    8:07
    larger your glider the less effective your control but the glider has to be
    8:13
    large enough to have wings big enough to lift you with the materials he had at the time he either didn't have enough
    8:19
    lift or not enough control usually the latter his flights were sort of a
    8:25
    gliders version of the powered leaps I mentioned earlier he didn't have a catapult instead he flew downhill thus
    8:32
    the distance travelled had more to do with the slope of the hill than the actual aerodynamic properties of the
    8:38
    glider in other words a glider that falls one foot forward or travels one foot forward for every one foot it falls
    8:45
    would have a one-to-one glide ratio which would be pretty terrible now on a 45-degree slope it can glide forever or
    8:51
    until it ran out a slope to follow now lilienthal's glide ratio is better than that but my point is that his
    8:58
    distance is traveled are largely due to the slope effect and not actual gliding
    9:03
    they also ensured that he was never very far off the ground so when his lack of controllability failed him he usually
    9:10
    survived at this point I should mention that the hill used by lilienthal was man-made
    9:17
    specifically for this purpose thus the slope was ideal and he was always able
    9:22
    to go down hill and with the headwind of course the inevitable did happen one
    9:27
    day when he was gliding down the hill a gust of wind sent him up to a higher altitude almost fifty feet above the
    9:33
    earth and his control method was insufficient to deal with the ups aid upset and he crashed to his death
    9:40
    Lilienthal documented a lot of what he did and his tables of lift were initially used by the wright brothers to
    9:47
    calculate various factors of wing design the Lilienthal tables of lift were sort
    9:52
    of a world standard at the time and the Wright's used them as a guide at least initially among the various people
    10:00
    designing airplanes prior to the Wright's first flight there was not a consensus on how things should be done
    10:05
    some people thought that wing profiles should not be curved and insisted that they should be flat the Wright's took
    10:13
    all this information in and found that no matter what they did no matter whose information they used they could not get
    10:19
    enough lift to do much of anything they built their own wind tunnel did their
    10:24
    own experiments and learn correctly so that lilienthal's tables of lift were off by a huge margin this may have been
    10:33
    one of their most important realizations because at this point the Wright brothers agreed to throw out all the
    10:39
    information that had come before them and only focus on what they themselves could prove to be correct
    10:45
    I'll summarize the solution to the lift problem by saying that with their wind
    10:50
    tunnel and experiments the Wright's figured out that the wings have to be curved in profile in order to generate
    10:55
    the amount of lift they were going to need now I'm sure at this point one of my viewers is saying well a flat wing
    11:02
    can work with the right engine and enough power you could do it after all you can make a rate patrol stop sign fly yeah that's true
    11:10
    however in order to generate the lift needed within the speeds they would be able to reach there is no way a flat
    11:17
    wing would have worked many of the other efforts going on at the time we're still using flat wings which was a total dead
    11:25
    end and even today no full-scale airplane is set up that way not one that carries people they also figured out the
    11:32
    correct proportions needed and the construction method so the wing would generate enough lift and have enough
    11:37
    strength to do the job in short the Wrights figured out everything needed to design and build a
    11:42
    working wing and thus solve the first problem that of how to generate enough lift.

  • @LongoSD9
    @LongoSD9 2 роки тому +2

    Amazing, thank you for sharing!!!

  • @Rozebunny14
    @Rozebunny14 2 роки тому

    Thank you for such a wonderful video♥️🕊️✈️

  • @turkeytrac1
    @turkeytrac1 2 роки тому +2

    That's so cool, I do find it funny that the scientists couldn't that Otto control his glider in a similar way to hang gliders of today.

  • @Cysiu106
    @Cysiu106 5 днів тому

    Statecznik poziomy z tyłu jest raczej pod złym kątem,powinien być uniesiony krawędzią natarcia ku górze,by pozwolić uzyskać większą szybkość co przełoży się na stabilniejszy lot. W tym momencie skrzydło wprawiane jest w duży kąt natarcia niepotrzebnie.

  • @rc-fannl7364
    @rc-fannl7364 4 місяці тому

    Amazing documentary

  • @YSekiai
    @YSekiai 2 роки тому

    I think the horizontal tail is angled too much.
    The original angle is much smaller.
    Why did you change the design?
    This causes the plane to lose stability.