#4 Otto Lilienthal

Otto Lilienthal was a German aviation pioneer who was known as the “Glider King”, due to the success of his well-documented, repeated, gliding flights. His experiments highly and favorably influenced the public and scientific opinion about the possibility of flying machines becoming practical. News papers and magazines all over the world published the photographs of Lilienthal flying, which eventually made him regarded as the “Father of Flight.”

He developed 18 different plane models and made what can be called as the predecessor of modern day hang gliders. On a flight in his glider on the 9th August 1896, his glider stalled and Lilienthal fell from a height of about 15 meters, fracturing his spine. He died the next day at a clinic in Europe. His final words to his brother were, “sacrifices must be made!”

#3 Valerian Abakovsky

Valerian Abakovsky was a young Russian engineer who invented Aerowagon. It is an experimental high speed rail car fitted with an aircraft engine which was intended to carry communist officials from city to city at high speeds. On its first trial run in 1921, the Aerowagon successfully ran over 100 miles from Moscow to the city of Tula. But in its return journey to the capital city, the train derailed at high speed, killing everyone on board including Abakovsky.