experimental first Zeppelin, LZ 1, over Lake Constance, reaching an altitude of with five men on board. Although the flight lasts only 18 minutes, covers only , and ends in an emergency landing on the lake, it is the first flight of a truly successful rigid airship. 12 September – The Wright brothers arrive at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to begin their first season of glider experiments there. 3 October – Probably on this date, Wilbur Wright makes the Wright brothers first glider flight at Kitty Hawk. During their tests, they will fly the 1900 glider both as a glider and as a kite under various wind conditions. 17 October – On her second flight, the Zeppelin LZ 1 remains aloft for 80 minutes. 23 October – The Wright brothers abandon their 1900 glider in a sand hollow and break camp at Kitty Hawk to return home to Dayton, Ohio. November – The British Army's observation balloon section's duty in the Second Boer War comes to an end. It is ordered home from South Africa because the Boers have switched to guerrilla tactics, making the balloons unsuitable for supporting British operations. Births 1825 8 February – Henri Giffard, French inventor, dirigible designer (suicide 1882) 1838 8 July – Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German airship manufacturer (died 1917) 1848 23 May – Otto Lilienthal, German glider pilot (died 1896 in aviation accident) 1853 25 July – Park Van Tassel, American balloonist and parachute designer (died 1930) 1854 28 March – Sir George White, 1st Baronet, English aircraft manufacturer (died 1916) 1858 15 February – John Joseph Montgomery, American aviator (died 1911) 1859 3 February – Hugo Junkers, German aircraft manufacturer (died 1935) 1863 13 December – Mason Patrick, Chief of United States Army Air Service (died 1942) 1865 10 June – E. Lilian Todd, American aircraft designer (died 1937) 1866 16 January – Percy Pilcher, English glider pilot (died 1899 in aviation accident) 1867 6 March – Samuel Franklin Cody, American-born showman and aviator (died 1913 accident) 16 April – Wilbur Wright, American aviator (died 1912 of typhoid fever) 1871 19 August – Orville Wright, American aviator (died 1948) 1872 13 March – Léon Delagrange, French aviator and sculptor (died 1910 in aviation accident) 1 July – Louis Blériot, French aviator (died 1936) 1873 3 February Karl Jatho, German aviation pioneer (died 1933) Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard, English military aviator (died