Even after the balloon was created, numerous efforts to imitate the flight of birds were made with experiments involving human muscle powered paddles or flappers, but none proved successful. Jacob Degen carried out various experiments to imitate the flight of birds from 1806 to 1813.
In 1809, Degen claimed he had successfully flown in an ornithopter. However, this was not strictly true as his machine was tethered to a large hot-air balloon.
Degen actually used his wings to provide him just enough lift to rise with the help of the balloon. In this manner, he went balloon-jumping in large leaps on a parade ground, to the delight of onlookers, but only the most gullible would take that for flying. He repeated this performance several times in Paris and Vienna between 1806 to 1817.
Soon, inventors dropped the idea of flapping like a bird and started using a new technique; the fixed wing aircraft.

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