List of glider pilots

This list of notable glider pilots contains the names of those who have achieved fame in gliding and in other fields:

Notable in gliding

The "Ehrenhalle" at the Wasserkuppe, featuring a larger than life statue of Otto Lilienthal lying on an empty tomb, a tribute to all who have died in gliding.

• Ruth Alexander - female altitude record breaker, first woman glider instructor in the U.S.
• Bill Bedford test pilot - first to fly Hawker P.1127 and Harrier.
• Luca Bertossio, 2012 World Advanced Category glider aerobatic champion FAI
• Paul Bikle - NASA director, glider altitude record setter and Soaring Hall of Fame
• William Hawley Bowlus, first American to break Wright brothers 1911 gliding record, Designer of first military prototype glider the XCG-16A, Superintendent of construction of the Spirit of St. Louis and U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame member

October 24, 1911: Orville Wright soared above Kill Devil Hill for 9 minutes 45 seconds, breaking their previous record of 1 minute 12 seconds set in January 1903 with the 1902 glider.

• Anne Burns - British champion, holder of multiple records, aerospace engineer
• Janusz Centka - multiple world champion,^[1]
• Anthony Deane-Drummond - major-general & British national champion
• Heini Dittmar, test pilot (first person over 1000 km/h) and gliding record breaker
• Wilhelm Düerkop, glider aerobatic champion
• Richard C. du Pont - director of military glider program
• Einar Enevoldson - test pilot and gliding record breaker
• Markus Feyerabend, glider aerobatics champion
• Steve Fossett - entrepreneur and gliding record breaker^[2]
• Nicholas Goodhart world champion, record breaker and inventor of the Mirror sight deck landing system
• Tadeusz Góra, gliding record breaker, first winner of the Lilienthal Gliding Medal
• Hans-Werner Grosse - 46 world records^[3]
• Doris Grove - female world record breaker, first woman to fly 1000 km, and U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame member ^[4]
• Julius Hatry, glider designer
• Barron Hilton - hotel magnate and founder of the Barron Hilton Cup for gliding^[5]
• Wolf Hirth, German gliding pioneer and sailplane designer
• Klaus Holighaus, glider designer and European Champion
• Hans Jacobs, glider designer
• Dick Johnson - 11-time U.S. National Champion, glider distance record setter and Soaring Hall of Fame
• Sebastian Kawa, most wins (5+3) in World Gliding Championships
• Joachim Kuettner, atmospheric scientist and gliding record breaker
• Thomas Knauff - author, instructor, world record breaker, and U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame member ^[6]
• Robert Kronfeld- Austrian gliding champion and sailplane designer
• Jean-Marie Le Bris - pioneer of French aviation
• George Lee - three times world champion, ex-RAF
• Otto Lilienthal - German machine engineer, first controlled gliding flights to 250 m
• Paul MacCready - aviation inventor, devised the MacCready Theory on speed to fly^[7]
• Edward Makula - world champion, 7 world records
• Jerzy Makula - six times world glider aerobatic champion^[8][9]
• Peter Masak - U.S. Soaring Team member, developed the first practical winglets for sailplanes
• Willy Messerschmitt, aircraft designer, including gliders
• George Moffat - author, two-time world champion, and U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame member^[10]
• John J. Montgomery - U.S. physicist, first controlled glider flight in U.S., and U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame member
• Derek Piggott - author, flight instructor and movie stunt pilot^[11]
• Helmut Reichmann - German professor, author and three-time gliding world champion
• Hanna Reitsch - test pilot and breaker of several gliding records^[12]
• Klaus Ohlmann - 36 world records,^[13] member of the Mountain Wave Project^[14]
• Joan Meakin Price, first woman to glide over the English Channel (1934).
• Peter Riedel, gliding champion
• Ingo Renner - four times world champion,^[15] two world records,^[16] flight instructor
• Cliff Robertson - actor and soaring activist^[17]
• Martin Schempp, glider designer and pilot
• Richard Schreder naval aviator and developer of the HP/RS-series kit sailplanes marketed from 1962 until about 1982.
• Peter Scott - naturalist (founder of World Wildlife Fund and ex-chairman of British Gliding Association)^[18]
• Wally Scott - world record breaker, U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame member, and multi-time recipient of the Lewin B. Barringer Memorial Trophy^[19][20]
• Geoffrey H. Stephenson - first person to cross the English Channel in a glider
• Karl Striedieck - world record breaker, and U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame member ^[21]
• Dennis Tito - gliding speed record holder, aerospace engineer and investment manager^[22]
• Oskar Ursinus, gliding pioneer and designer
• Gerhard Waibel, glider pilot and designer
• Ann Welch, instructor and administrator
• Philip Wills, world champion and administrator
• Wright Brothers - early glider pioneers, invented 3-axis flight control on 1902 glider, set world glider duration record in 1911 (also widely credited with inventing the airplane)
• Jan Wróblewski - World Champion in 1965 and 1972; FAI Lilienthal Medal 1972

Other notable people known to have flown gliders

• Sir John Allison - RAF Officer, former Commander in Chief Strike Command
• James Allison - F1 Engineer, Technical Director Scuderia Ferrari
• Neil Armstrong - first man on the moon, astronaut^[23][24]
• Richard Bach - author
• Paul Bulcke - Nestlé CEO (2007–present)^[25]
• Barbara Cartland - author^[26]
• Kalpana Chawla - astronaut
• John Denver - singer/songwriter
• Hugh Downs - television news anchor
• Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank - British architect^[27]
• Matthew Fox - actor^[28]
• Christopher Foyle - Owner of Foyles Bookshop^[29]
• Andy Green - World Land Speed Record holder^[30]
• Erich Hartmann - most successful fighter pilot of all times (352 confirmed victories)^[31]
• Will Hay - British comic actor^[32]
• L. Ron Hubbard - founder of the Church of Scientology^[33]
• Marsha Ivins - astronaut
• Sir David Jason - actor^[34]
• Amy Johnson - Pioneer in Aviation - member at Yorkshire Gliding Club from 1937^[35]
• John Kerry - U.S. senator and former presidential candidate^[36]
• Charles Lindbergh - winner of the Orteig Prize as pilot on first solo nonstop Atlantic crossing flight^[37]
• William S. McArthur - astronaut
• Richie McCaw - All Blacks captain ^[38]
• Steve McQueen - actor, star of The Thomas Crown Affair (1968 film)^[39]
• Mike Melvill - Spaceship One test pilot^[40]
• Story Musgrave - astronaut on Hubble telescope repair mission
• Sir Paul Nurse - President of the Royal Society
• Robert Pearson - airline pilot and glider pilot who glided a Boeing 767 to safety^[41]
• Christopher Reeve - actor^[42]
• Michel Rocard - French former prime minister^[43]
• Martin Shaw - actor^[44]
• Alan Shepard - astronaut on first Project Mercury space flight
• Chesley Sullenberger - captain of US Airways Flight 1549 which ditched in the Hudson River
• Peter Twiss - test pilot and former holder of the World Air Speed Record

References

1. "FAI awards of Janusz Centka". Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved 2008-01-11.
2. "Link to Steve Fossett's glider altitude record". Retrieved 2006-09-01.
3. "FAI World Records by Hans-Werner Grosse". Retrieved 2007-01-11.
4. "FAI World Records by Doris Grove". Retrieved 2006-12-11.
5. "FAI article on the Barron Hilton Cup". Retrieved 2006-09-26.
6. "FAI World Records by Tom Knauff". Retrieved 2006-12-10.
7. "Link to Paul MacCready bio". Retrieved 2006-09-26.
8. "Jerzy Makula's rankings in FAI world and european championships". Retrieved 2007-01-11.
9. "FAI Centenary Medal recipients". Retrieved 2007-01-11.
10. "FAI World Records by George Moffat". Retrieved 2006-12-10.
11. Piggott, Derek (2002). Gliding: A handbook on soaring flight. A & C Black. ISBN 0-7136-6148-8.
12. "Bio of Hanna Reitsch". Retrieved 2006-09-26.
13. "FAI World Records by Klaus Ohlmann". Retrieved 2007-01-11.
14. "Mountain Wave Project". Retrieved 2007-01-11.
15. "SSA: World Soaring Champions". Retrieved 2008-01-11.
16. "FAI: world records of Ingo Renner". Retrieved 2008-01-11.
17. "National Aviation Hall of Fame article on Cliff Robertson". Retrieved 2006-09-26.
18. "Bio of Sir Peter Scott". Retrieved 2006-09-26.
19. Soaring Hall of Fame (2011). "The Soaring Hall of Fame - Alphabetical Listing". Retrieved 25 February 2011.
20. Leibacher, John (2009). "The Lewin B. Barringer Memorial Trophy". Retrieved 25 February 2011.
21. "FAI World Records by Karl Striedieck". Retrieved 2006-12-10.
22. "Soaring Cafe announcement of new speed record". Retrieved 22 September 2014.
23. "CBS interview with Neil Armstrong includes clip of gliding". CBS News. 2005-11-03. Retrieved 2006-09-26.
24. "Being The First Man On The Moon, Ed Bradley Talks To Neil Armstrong About Fame, Family And Apollo 11 - CBS News". 2005-11-03. Retrieved 2007-08-01.
25. "Das Schweizer Wirtschaftsmagazin bilanz.ch". Retrieved 19 November 2014.
26. "Barbara Cartland biography". Retrieved 2006-09-26.
27. "Interview in The Guardian". Retrieved 14 September 2014.
28. "Bio of Matthew Fox". Retrieved 2006-09-26.
29. "Interview in The Independent". Retrieved 14 September 2014.
30. "Chairman of the Four Counties Gliding Club". Retrieved 14 September 2014.
31. "New York Times article on Erich Hartmann, Oct 23 1993". The New York Times. 1993-10-23. Retrieved 2006-09-26.
32. Mark McKay Laugh Magazine Issue 22 2001
33. "RON, Adventurer/Explorer - Spinning in by L. Ron Hubbard (Part 2/4)". adventurer.lronhubbard.org. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
34. "article in Nottingham Post". Retrieved 14 September 2014.
35. "Yorkshire Gliding Club". Retrieved 19 November 2012.
36. "Boston Globe article on John Kerry". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2006-09-26.
37. "Article on glider flight by Lindbergh". Archived from the original on March 16, 2005. Retrieved 2006-09-26.
38. Gallagher, Brendan (2006-12-14). "Daily Telegraph report 17 Dec 2006". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
39. "Evidence that Steve McQueen was a glider pilot". Retrieved 2006-09-26.
40. "Mike Melvill bio". Archived from the original on December 24, 2005. Retrieved 2006-09-26.
41. "Description of the Gimli glider accident". Archived from the original on 2006-08-19. Retrieved 2006-09-26.
42. "Interview with Christopher Reeve". Retrieved 2006-09-26.
43. "Bio of Michel Rocard (in French)". Retrieved 2006-09-26.
44. "Appeared on BBC programme Sporting Chance". Retrieved 14 September 2014.