Flugzeugstart mit Muskelkraft - Haeßler und Villinger, Frankfurt-Rebstock, Germany 1935-36

Helmut Haeßler (1909-1997) built the world's first muscle-powered aircraft together with Franz Villinger (1907-2009).
The trigger was a competition run by the Frankfurt Polytechnic Society in the magazine “Flugsport”.
What was required was a horizontal flight, with the aircraft being powered by human power and completing a circular flight; The prize was a bonus of 5,000 marks.
For years, designers tried to win the prize - without success.

Haeßler has dedicated his entire life to aviation.
After completing the Kyffhäusertechnikum in Frankenhausen, he joined Junkers Flugzeugwerke Dessau in 1934, where he worked as an aircraft structural engineer.
Here he met Villinger, with whom he designed the human-powered aircraft “HV-1 Mufli”, which achieved the first controlled human-powered flight in August 1935.
The launch took place as a catapult launch using a rubber rope.

Since the pilot had to use his feet to pedal the propeller, control was done with his hands.
The HV-1 was flown by the glider pilot Karl Dünbeil, who was able to stay 195 meters in the air on his first flight.
Although the flight did not meet the conditions of the tender - HV-1 could only fly straight - it caused enormous media coverage.