Lilienthal Gliding Medal
Encyclopedia
Lilienthal Gliding Medal – the highest soaring award in the world, established by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
(FAI) in 1938 in honor of Otto Lilienthal
, a German
pioneer of human aviation
. It aims "to reward a particularly remarkable performance in gliding
, or eminent services to the sport of gliding over a long period of time". The award is made at the annual FAI General Conference. Medal was designed by Austria
n artist Josef Humplik.
The first winner of the Lilienthal Gliding Medal in the world was Tadeusz Góra
for his record-breaking 577.8-kilometer flight on May 18, 1938, glider PWS-101 from Bezmiechowa
to Soleczniki
(near Vilnius
).
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale is the world governing body for air sports and aeronautics and astronautics world records. Its head office is in Lausanne, Switzerland. This includes man-carrying aerospace vehicles from balloons to spacecraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles...
(FAI) in 1938 in honor of Otto Lilienthal
Otto Lilienthal
Otto Lilienthal was a German pioneer of human aviation who became known as the Glider King. He was the first person to make well-documented, repeated, successful gliding flights. He followed an experimental approach established earlier by Sir George Cayley...
, a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
pioneer of human aviation
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
. It aims "to reward a particularly remarkable performance in gliding
Gliding
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s...
, or eminent services to the sport of gliding over a long period of time". The award is made at the annual FAI General Conference. Medal was designed by Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n artist Josef Humplik.
The first winner of the Lilienthal Gliding Medal in the world was Tadeusz Góra
Tadeusz Góra
Tadeusz Góra was a Polish glider and military pilot. Born in Kraków, Austria-Hungary he was the first winner of the Lilienthal Gliding Medal in the world for his record-breaking 577.8-kilometer flight on May 18, 1938, glider PWS-101 from Bezmiechowa to Soleczniki .For this he was the first...
for his record-breaking 577.8-kilometer flight on May 18, 1938, glider PWS-101 from Bezmiechowa
Bezmiechowa Górna
Bezmiechowa Górna is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Lesko, within Lesko County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland...
to Soleczniki
Šalcininkai
Šalčininkai is a city in Vilnius County, Lithuania, situated south-east of Vilnius, near the border with Belarus.Šalčininkai received its city rights in 1956 and is now a capital of the Šalčininkai district municipality. Šalčininkai features a multi-ethnic population of Poles , Lithuanians ,...
(near Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
).
Recipients
Recipients of this award, from 1938 to present, include:| Year | Recipient | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1938 |  Tadeusz GóraTadeusz Góra Tadeusz Góra was a Polish glider and military pilot. Born in Kraków, Austria-Hungary he was the first winner of the Lilienthal Gliding Medal in the world for his record-breaking 577.8-kilometer flight on May 18, 1938, glider PWS-101 from Bezmiechowa to Soleczniki .For this he was the first... |
for a goal flight of 557 kilometers |
| 1948 |  Per-Axel Persson |
|
| 1949 |  John C. Robinson |
|
| 1950 | William S. Ivans |
|
| 1951 |  Marcelle Choisnet-Gohard |
|
| 1952 | Charles Atger |
|
| 1953 |  Vladimir Iltchenko |
|
| 1954 |  Philip WillsPhilip Wills Philip Aubrey Wills CBE was a pioneering British glider pilot.-Early years:Philip Wills was from a wealthy family, and at the age of 21 he was able to buy his first aircraft, a de Havilland DH.60 Moth. On 20 January 1929 he was badly injured when his Moth crashed at Duxford Aerodrome, in which... |
|
| 1955 |  Joachim Küttner |
|
| 1956 | Paul MacCready Paul MacCready Paul B. MacCready, Jr. was an American aeronautical engineer. He was the founder of AeroVironment and the designer of the human-powered aircraft that won the Kremer prize... |
|
| 1957 |  Don Luis Vicente Juez Gomez |
|
| 1958 | Wolf Hirth Wolf Hirth Wolfram Kurt Erhard Hirth was a German gliding pioneer and sailplane designer. He was a co-founder of Schempp-Hirth, still a renowned glider manufacturer.... |
|
| 1959 | Richard Schreder Richard Schreder Richard E. Schreder was an American naval aviator and sailplane developer, responsible for design and development of the HP/RS-series kit sailplanes marketed from 1962 until about 1982... |
|
| 1960 | Pelagia Majewska |
|
| 1961 |  Adolph Gehriger |
|
| 1962 | Paul Bikle Paul Bikle Paul F. Bikle Director of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Dryden Flight Research Facility from 1959 until 1971, and author of more than 40 technical publications, has been associated with major aeronautical research programs including the supersonic X-15 rocket plane, and... |
|
| 1963 | Heinz Huth |
|
| 1964 | Alvin H. Parker |
|
| 1965 | Edward Makula Edward Makula Edward Makula was a Polish glider pilot and engineer.He won the 1963 World Gliding Championships in Junin in a SZD-19 Zefir 2 and established 7 world records.... |
|
| 1966 | Anne Burns Anne Burns Anne Burns was a British aeronautical engineer and glider pilot.-Early life:Anne Pellew was born in Haworth, Yorkshire... |
|
| 1967 | Lennart Stahlfors |
|
| 1968 |  Alejo Williamson |
|
| 1969 | Eric Nessler |
|
| 1970 | Hans-Werner Grosse Hans-Werner Grosse Hans-Werner Grosse is a German glider pilot who has established 46 world records approved by FAI Gliding Commission.... |
|
| 1971 | Karl Striedieck Karl Striedieck Karl H. Striedieck II is a world record setting glider pilot and a member of the U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame. He was an early pioneer of ridge soaring in the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians in the 1960s, ultimately setting nine world records flying gliders there. He was selected for the U.S... |
|
| 1972 | Jan Wróblewski |
twice World Champion, 1965 Open and 1972 Standard Class |
| 1973 | Ann Welch Ann Welch Ann Courtenay Welch OBE, née Edmonds, was a pilot who received the Gold Air Medal from Fédération Aéronautique Internationale for her contributions to the development of four air sports - gliding, hang gliding, paragliding and microlight flying.As a child, Ann Welch kept a diary listing every... |
|
| 1974 | August Hug |
|
| 1975 | Adela Dankowska |
for her world records & winning the 1975 International Feminine Gliding Competition |
| 1976 |  Louis A. de Lange |
|
| 1977 | George B. Moffat, Jr. George B. Moffat, Jr. George B. Moffat, Jr is an author, twice world champion glider pilot, and a member of the U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame. He began flying airplanes in 1953, gliders in 1959, entered his first national soaring competition in 1962, and was still an active competition pilot as of 2008... |
|
| 1978 | Helmut Reichmann Helmut Reichmann Professor Dr. Helmut Reichmann was a German glider pilot, thrice Gliding World Champion and co-founder, with millionaire Barron Hilton, of the Barron Hilton Cup... |
|
| 1980 |  Hans Wolf |
|
| 1981 | George Lee |
|
| 1982 | Hans Nietlispach |
|
| 1984 |  C.E. Wallington |
|
| 1985 |  Sholto Hamilton Georgeson |
|
| 1986 | Dick Johnson Dick Johnson (glider pilot) Richard H. Johnson was a glider pilot, aeronautical engineer and prolific writer of articles for gliding magazines. He was an 11-time U.S. National Champion glider pilot, 9-time US Soaring Team pilot at the Soaring World Championships, held two World Gliding Records and is a member of the US... |
|
| 1987 |  Juhani Horma |
|
| 1988 | Ingo Renner Ingo Renner Ingo Renner OAM is an Australian glider pilot who has won the World Gliding Championships four times.He started gliding in 1954 at the LSV Hude of which he is now an honorary member. In 1967 he moved to Australia and was granted Australian citizenship in 1971... |
|
| 1990 | Fred Weinholtz |
|
| 1991 | Raymond W. Lynskey |
|
| 1992 | Franciszek Kępka |
|
| 1993 | Bernald S. Smith |
|
| 1994 | Terrence Delore |
|
| 1995 |  Thor Johannessen |
|
| 1997 | Manfred Reinhardt |
|
| 1998 | Oran Nicks |
|
| 1999 |  Hana Zejdova |
|
| 2000 | Klaus Ohlmann Klaus Ohlmann Klaus Ohlmann, born 1952 in Neustadt, Germany is a German glider pilot who has established 36 world records approved by FAI. Among these is the record for a free distance flight with up to 3 turn-points by flying 3,009 km from Chapelco Airport at San Martín de los Andes in a Schempp-Hirth Nimbus 4... |
|
| 2001 | James M. Payne |
|
| 2002 | John Hamish Roake |
|
| 2003 |  Piero Morelli |
|
| 2004 | Janusz Centka Janusz Centka Janusz Centka is a Polish glider pilot who has won two European and three World Gliding Championships.In 2002 he established a world record in speed over a triangular course of 1000km in the 15m class in a SZD 56 Diana from Ely, Nevada .... |
|
| 2005 | Ian Strachan |
|
| 2006 | Alan Patching |
|
| 2007 | Derek Piggott Derek Piggott Alan Derek Piggott MBE is one of Britain's best known glider pilots and instructors. His flying career has been long and varied. He first flew in an Avro 504 as a passenger at the age of four... |
|
| 2008 | Roland Stuck |
|
| 2009 | Ross Macintyre |
|
| 2010 | Reiner Rose |