His studies in the creation of lift were foundational in the design and construction of aircraft.  What Lilienthal did made it possible for aircraft like the Boeing 747 to be flying, providing service, less than one hundred years after his death.  Anyone who looks at the timeline of development of the airplane must be impressed by the speed with which this has taken place since Lilienthal’s success with gliders.  In my mind every time I leave the ground it’s a miracle. I often say “and the miracle happens again” as we ease the aircraft off the ground.  All of this reminds me of a verse from the Bible found in Proverbs 25:2 “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.”  So, God hid the principles of flight in the smallest birds that are all around us and it took an Otto Lilienthal to seek this out.  This makes me wonder how many things we have left to discover about our world.