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10/08/1893 German aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal dies

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Lilienthal Glider

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Otto Lilienthal's First Film

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Samuel Langley, Otto Lilienthal, and the Wright Brothers

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Lilienthal

Lilienthal was the first person to make well-documented, repeated, successful flights with unpowered airplanes. Lilienthal financed his experiments with aircraft from his commercially successful earlier inventions, such as a small steam engine that worked on a system of tubular boilers designed for safety.