The beginning of an era.- The skies over Pomerania.- From a poor student to good scholar.- Bed lodger – engineer – manufacturer.- Life goal: inventor.- From the dream of flight to aerodynamics.- From theory to flying apparatus.- 1891 – the leap into a new century.- Captured in mid-air.- Modelled after a bat – the path to serially produced aircraft.- Practical flying – training and records.- An engine – again inspired by birds.- The Fliegeberg – a real airfield.- Flying machine customers and flight students.- More difficult than anticipated: steering.- A rich idea: the biplane.- Unfinished ideas and August 9, 1896.- To fly is everything – Lilienthal 125 years later.