Leo Valentin
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Leo Valentin was a French adventurer, who was obsessed with flying like birds. Léo Valentin is widely considered to be the most famous birdman of all time. He was a paratrooper during World War II. After the war he once again directed his attention towards his lifelong ambition of flying like birds. At Villacoublay airfield, near Paris, Valentin attempted his first wing jump with wings made of canvas, but the adventure ended in a failure as he failed to achieve any forward speed. He then tried rigid wings. During May 1954, with the help of a set of rigid wooden wings, he finally managed some kind of stability with the initial spiral. Valentin later claimed that he managed to fly for 3 miles. Léo Valentin attempted a similar stunt in 1956 and was killed when a part of his wings fell off after crashing with the plane on exit.
