Precursor to Wright Brothers attempts to glide from Jockey’s Ridge.
As the anniversary of Wilbur and Orville historic powered flight neared this past weekend, German aeronautical engineer, Markus Raffel, brought his Otto Lilienthal glider to the sands of Jockey’s Ridge to see if it could fly. An early pioneer in studying the science of flight, Lilienthal’s writings were studied extensively by the Wright Brothers. Lucy Papachristou writing in the Outer Banks Voice tells the story.
“Tuesday, Dec. 17 marked the 116th anniversary of Orville and Wilbur Wright’s first successful flight, an historic event commemorated each year at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills.
Also participating in this year’s program was a German aeronautics professor and aviation enthusiast, Markus Raffel, who made the trip to the Outer Banks to highlight the important historical connection between early German aviation and the Wright brothers’ famed flight.”
