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Originally Posted by
Danny42C
Thanks for the link ! I think Madame A must have been at the lsd ! (wasn't there a medieval monk of Malmesbury [?] who put a simiar idea to the test from the top of the church tower, and lived [?] to regret it ?)
Yes, Danny, that's quite close to where I live (although unfortunately I arrived 1011 years too late for the event.) Benedictine Eilmer - the 'flying monk' - was the country's first aviator in the year 1005. He flew for about 200m, but crashed, in his view, because he forgot to provide himself with a tail. (Obviously didn't listen properly in groundschool.) Seems he lived but broke both his legs, which was probably to his benefit because it (and his Boss) curtailed any further experimentation!
He was clearly bang up-to-date, as he has his own website at
Eilmer of Malmesbury.
<many apologies for thread-drift>