The sad tale of Otto Lilienthal

You've heard of the Wright Brothers. But spare a thought - or shed a tear - for poor forgotten Otto Lilienthal.

The first man to truly fly with wings, he studied aviation obsessively for thirty years, building prototypes with his brother Gustave.

In 1896, having finally made a power driven aeroplane, he took a flight to check his controls, but was tragically killed.

His brother was heartbroken and their aeroplane was abandoned, untested.

Today I've been working on a model of his hang glider. It's very fiddly, but I hope to finish it tonight.