Nils Hoeimyr wrote:
Well, the German Otto Lillienthal was soaring 10 years before the Wright
brothers and the Wright brothers were indeed inspired by him.


As I recall Otto did not do any soaring, i.e sustained flight. His
flights were more or less straight glides tho he did encounter thermals
once in a while.

Plicher in England predates Lillienthal for making straight glides and
even may be credited with being the first to use a yaw string.

Robert Mudd