Gustav Mesmer (1903–1994) was a German inventor of experimental human-powered flying machines, often referred to in the press as "the Icarus of Lautertal."
He has been championed by curators as an outsider artist, while his theories about improving aerodynamics through wing and sail piercings have been of interest to scientists.
At Bad Schussenried, many patients due to be discharged underwent forced sterilization; Mesmer was spared only because there was no intention of releasing him anytime soon.
When the Second World War broke out, Bad Schussenried became a transit station on the route used to send people to be killed in the gas chambers of Grafeneck, itself a former mental institution.
[2] After the war ended, Mesmer learned basket weaving and continued to invent flying machines; he also created original musical instruments.
Some of these machines were constructed around bicycles, but others were shoulder-harness rigs that required the wearer to use a tower, cliff, or other high place as a launch site.
Elaborate constructions made largely of wood, fabric, and metal and often incorporating found materials, they were reminiscent of the flying machines built by Otto Lilienthal and other late 19th century aviation pioneers.
Among his best-known inventions are a shoulder harness constructed principally out of three umbrellas, and a bicycle with a set of rotors that turned it into a pedal-powered helicopter.
His inventions and expeditions earned him the affectionate local nickname of “the Icarus of Lautertal,” referencing the Lauter valley where Buttenhausen was located.
More recently, his work has been featured in the 2005 Kunstkoln art fair in Cologne, Germany, and in an episode of Wallace and Gromit's World of Invention.