Essays and Books

In our online-archives you have access to catalogues of the collection, photo archives, the archives and the library of the museum.

Amongst others there are available digitized copies of almost all patents as well as a lot of articles, that have been published in English, translated and digitized in the entire bibliography of Otto Lilienthal. Examples are given:

Otto Lilienthal

• Otto Lilienthal: "Ueber meine diesjährigen Flugversuche"
  (About My this Year's Flight Attempts)
  "Zeitschrift für Luftschiffahrt" (Journal of Aviation) 12/1891, S.275-276

• Otto Lilienthal: "Fliegesport und Fliegepraxis"
  (Flying - Sports and Practice)
  "Prometheus", VII, 1895. Pp. 145-147 and 163-173

• Otto Lilienthal: "Die Profile der Segelflächen und ihre Wirkung"
  (The profiles of sailing surfaces (airfoils) and their effect)
  "Zeitschrift für Luftschiffahrt" 14/1895 pp.42-57

• Cuttings from Otto Lilienthal: "Bird flight as a Basis of Aviation";
  English edition (translated from the 2nd edition), New York, 1911
  
  other topics than aviation:

• Cuttings from Otto Lilienthal: "Moderne Raubritter" (modern robber barons); screenplay, Berlin 1896
  
  
• An Announcement of Otto Lilienthals for the workers and employees of his factory from the 12 th March 1890.

The political thinking and action of the Lilienthal brothers was influenced by the book of Theodor Hertzka: "Freiland - ein soziales Zukunftsbild" Leipzig, 1890 (Freeland. A Social Anticipation). Gustav Lilienthal was an active ''freelander'', but the introduction of a profit share in Otto Lilienthals factory also shows an obvious connection to this circle of ideas.

Wilbur Wright

• Wilbur Wright: "Otto Lilienthal"; Aero Club of America Bulletin, Sept. 1912

Robert W. Wood

• Robert Wood: "Lilienthal's last Flights"; "Boston Evening Transcript" Oct. 31, 1896

Correspondence

by/to Otto Lilienthal

• The complete correspondence with the topic of human flight is published in German. A summary of complete known correspondence is published on this site.

• Otto Lilienthal's letter to Moritz v. Egidy, from about January 1894
  (Lilienthal's famous vision about social and cultural effects of his aeroplane)

Lilienthal - Chanute

• 8 letters by Chanute, 3 by Otto Lilienthal, 1 by Gustav Lilienthal
  (The railroad engineer Octave Chanute (USA) became the first authority on questions of human flight in the USA and the link to the Wright Brothers.)