Karl Jatho

Karl Jatho ([kaʁl ˈjatʰo]; 3 February 1873 – 8 December 1933) was a German inventor and aviation pioneer, performer and public servant of the city of Hanover.

From August through November 1903, Jatho made progressively longer hops (flights) in a pusher triplane, and then a biplane, at Vahrenwalder Heide  [de] outside of Hanover.

Although in Germany some enthusiasts credit him with making the first airplane flight,[4] according to modern researchers such as Leonhardt[3] and Lohmann (interviewed for the 2006 NDR Fernsehen documentary Sorry Mister Wright and the 2009 documentary Made in Hannover – German Aviation Pioneer Karl Jatho took off ahead of Orville Wright), Jatho's personal claim to a place in the history books of aviation on grounds of significant pioneer motorized flights of 18 metres (59 ft) in August and 60 metres (200 ft) in November 1903 prior to the Brothers Wright is tarnished by the fact that he took 30 years to have it legally certified by original eyewitness accounts.

In the summer of 1933, Jatho's former assistant Werner Hegge attempted to give practical proof by a flight demonstration with an exact replica of Jatho's original machine, but according to the 9 October 1933 issue of the local Hannoversche Kurier newspaper, the weather did not allow for a safe start on the scheduled date.

From 1936 onwards, Hegge's replica became a public exhibit at the German Aeronautical Collection Berlin, [de] where it was destroyed during WWII.