Leonidas Arniotis

Leonidas Arniotis (; 1862–1939) was one of the most famous entertainers and theatre owners in Athens in the late 19th to early 20th centuries. Though, he is most remembered as the first Greek to attempt to actually fly on an airplane in his home country.

Biography Early career as an entertainer He was born in Sparta in 1862 and was one of the pioneers of theatre in his home town. By 1893, he reportedly already “occupied a leading position among the horse trainers in Europe", called the "winged horseman" in Paris. In the 1890s, he toured the United States, organizing shows with trained dogs and cats, as well as shows with horses.

In 1904, he founded the famous “Arniotis Theater” in Athens, a popular entertainment venue that hosted variety troupes, trained animal performances and avant-garde shows, while he also wrote lyrics, plays, and musical scores. Thus, he proclaimed himself “inventor and airplane builder” and claimed that in private trials he had managed small flights - probably short hops - of 40-50 metres. However, his famous first public attempt on September 26, 1910 failed. He attempted another failed public attempt in October 1910. By December 1910, he had further modified his plane into an early seaplane and claimed that, after all modifications and rebuilding, his plane was “a product of local industry”. However, his two public attempts to fly in January 1911, failed again. Arniotis kept improving his plane, installing a new engine and new wings in April 1911 , and apparently managed to get off the ground (probably making short hops) since May 1911 – in that respect, being the first Greek to even momentarily take off the ground on an airplane, in his home country. Despite these, and other improvements that followed, his “flights” did not exceed a height of about 10 metres. These series of public appearances and failures to achieve sustained flight made Arniotis a subject of ridicule by the Greek press. The first Greek to actually make a sustained flight in the country was Emmanouil Argyropoulos, on a Nieuport IV on February 8, 1912.