[JoeF]

Boris Nikolaevich Delone
Boris Delone
Russian.
Born: 15 March 1890 in St Petersburg, Russia
Died: 17 July 1980 in Moscow, Russia

Not sure of interest, but some gliders are involved.

In the middle of his years at high school the Delone family had moved from St Petersburg to Kiev where Nikolai Borisovich completed his secondary education. He entered Kiev University in 1908 but by this time he had become involved with Russia's first aeronautic circle which he helped organise with his father who had been influenced by Nikolai Egorovich Zhukovsky. They built five gliders, each one an improvement on the one before as they learnt from their experiences. In 1908-1909 the eighteen-year-old Delone flew the gliders he was constructing, so becoming one of the first Russian glider pilots. In fact his first publication was How to build and fly a cheap and light glider in 1910.