Otto Lilienthal - 'The Greatest of the Precursors'

This brief treatment of Otto Lilienthal's overall aeronautical contribution details his aerodynamic research, the data as well as his data-gathering technique. Lilienthal's subsequent glider experiments also are covered from the perspective of both their technical and inspirational contributions. The heart of the paper is a discussion of the place of Lilienthal's aerodynamics in the work of others, primarily the Wright brothers. Included is a reassessment of the accuracy of Lilienthal's famous table of lift coefficients and the assumptions that the Wrights made in using Lilienthal's data. Historically, Lilienthal's data and their use by the Wrights has been one of the more complex and debated aspects of the Wright story. The article presents a brief review of how Lilienthal's contrihution has been characterized and revised over time, with a discussion of the current thinking regarding the famous Lilienthal table of lift coefficients.