Past & Present: The Aeroplane (colour litho)

The Aeroplane. Lilienthal Gliding, 1891. Among the most successful of 19th century pioneers of aerial flight was Otto Lilienthal, who devoted years of careful research to the problems of bird flight. He made over 2,000 glides in safety, with gravity as his motive power, using concave bat-like wings. In 1896 he was caught in a gust of wind and killed. Cobham's Aeroplane. In 1925 Mr (now Sir) Alan Cobham flew from London to Rangoon and back, and in 1925-6 from London to Cape Town and back. In October 1926, he alighted at Westminster after having flown 28,000 miles from England to Melbourne and back in his aeroplane DH 50, propelled by a 14 cylinder air-cooled Jaguar engine. Illustration for one of a set of cigarette cards on the subject of Past & Present issued by Wills in 1929.