Note
Mr. L. J. Lesh, Larry Lesh, was an early aviation designer and pilot who chose to test his Glider #2 at Montreal in 1907.
As captured by Terry Beasley in Free Flight 03/2001 "Mr. L.J. Lesh flew two Chanute type hang gliders in Dominion Park, towed by a boy on horseback. Later, in the same year, he did something much more exciting. He stood his glider on a pier opposite Pointe aux Trembles on the St. Lawrence River with a towing cable attached to a motorboat. He ran along the pier, towed by the boat, and managed to get airborne before he got to the end of the pier. He flew an incredible seven miles down-stream behind the boat. Unfortunately the motorboat driver
mistook a signal and turned and stopped. Mr. Lesh was forced to alight on the water, without injury, but destroying the glider. This story seems to confirm that Montreal is the birthplace of gliding in Canada."
Contemporary coverage of his flight is available at:
popular mechanics 1907 issue 10 page 1132 https://archive.org/details/sim_popular-mechanics_popular-mechanics_1907-10_9_10/page/1132/mode/2up
and additional detail at:
Quebec Heritage News 2004 issue 11 page 10 https://qahn.org/sites/default/files/QHN%20Back%20Issues/QHN%20July-August%202004.pdf
