UK by choice, Alsatian by birth, José Weiss was famed landscape artist and much-loved aviator; sought stable glider from 1900, pioneered thick aerofoil profiles (esp. 1905 glider), from 1910 built aeroplanes, assisted by Dr Alex Keith, Gerald Leak and pilot E.C. Gordon England (who set pre-1914 soaring record in Weiss glider); designed early Handley Pages.