Inventors Who Maybe Should’ve Read The Manual Of Their Own Invention That Ended Up Killing Them
Otto Lilienthal
He was a pioneer in the early aviation field. He’s better known as The Glider King because he made over 2,000 glider flights and is credited with perfecting the gull-wing design. He set the long-held record of soaring to 1820 feet but it was the invention that many thought he had perfected that ended up killing him.
On August 10, 1896, he experimented with “shifting weight” in a glider for the first time at fifty feet. He ended up losing lift and his glider stalled out, which ultimately sent him flying to the ground and breaking his neck.
