Karl Jatho

Karl Jatho (; 3 February 1873 – 8 December 1933) was a German inventor and aviation pioneer, performer and public servant of the city of Hanover.

Achievements and claims to precedence over the Wright brothers

From August through November 1903, Jatho made progressively longer hops (flights) in a pusher triplane, and then a biplane, at outside of Hanover. His first flight was only distance at about altitude. Sources differ whether his aircraft was controlled. The earliest contemporary source suggesting that it was controlled, a newspaper article from dating 1 August 1907, states that Jatho "has been working on controllable air vehicles for 12 years by now", however a legal document dated 19 November 1902 (an official decline by legal authorities to attend a legal test examination that Jatho had offered to them) appears to describe a design that still lacked a controlling mechanism. 30 years after his first flight tests, four eyewitnesses gave a legal testimony certified by a civil law notary in 1933 to having observed his August 1903 flight and that the given data was correct.

According to local historian quoting from Jatho's notes as well as NDR Fernsehen journalist Gunter Hartung, by November 1903 Jatho had managed to achieve a continuous flight of at altitude, a month prior to the 17 December 1903 pioneer flights of the Wright brothers spanning distances of at about altitude.

Jatho eventually gave up, noting "In spite of many efforts, (I) cannot make longer or higher flights. Motor weak." With a later machine, Jatho would make successful flights in 1909: at about altitude. He also founded a flying school and an aircraft factory, but did not have much success.

Later assessments of claims and recreation attempts

Although in Germany some enthusiasts credit him with making the first airplane flight, The team decided to wait for better weather conditions, but the legal owner of their replica, Flughafen Hannover-Langenhagen GmbH (owner of Hannover Airport where their test had taken place) that had sponsored the building of the replica, did not allow for further tests, as the airport owner instead preferred to make it a permanent exhibit at its World of Aviation exhibition located at the airport.