Vecihi Hürkuş

Vecihi Hürkuş
Born	6 January 1895 Istanbul, Turkey
Died	16 July 1969 Ankara, Turkey
Occupation	aviator, engineer

Vecihi Hürkuş (6 January 1895 - 16 July 1969) was the first civil aviator in Turkey. He also built the first airplane in Turkey.

He was born January 6, 1896 in Istanbul. He joined WWI. He returned the Istanbul Yesilkoy when he he was injured, then he joined Tayyare Mektebi (aviation school). Received his pilot certificate and fought against Russian fighters. He made bombing and reconnaissance flights, also shot down a Russian airplane during one of these flights. So, he is first Turkish pilot to shoot down an enemy airplane.

Then he was taken prisoner by the Russians. He succeeded in escaping from Nargin land to Iran by swimming! Then he returned to Istanbul in 1918 and joined to 9th combat aircraft squadron. He designed a fighter plane but couldn’t finish the project because of the Montroeu Ceasefire Agreement. He shot down an Greek airplane during WWI, and he was the Turkish pilot who flew both the first and last time in WWI.

After the war, he designed and also created a few aircraft despite many diffulties. He rented a lumber mill and produced his first airplane in there. He used Greek aircraft engines he had obtained during WWI for his designs.

He foundrd Hurkus Havayollari (freebird airlines) in 1954

Without doubt, he is the one of the greatest aviators of Turkey.

Firsts

Without a doubt, Vecihi Hürkuş was Turkey's most celebrated aviator. He was the first Turk to:

• shoot down an enemy aircraft on the Caucasus front during World War I,
• fly a twin-engine aircraft (1917 - Caucasian Front - captured Russian Caudron G.4),
• manufacture a propeller from scratch (1918 - Istanbul - Nieuport 17 captured from the Russians),
• produce adhesive from gelatin to glue fabric to aircraft wings (Turkish War of Independence),
• first to land at İzmir Seydiköy Airfield during the Turkish War of Independence, occupying it single-handedly. This was considered to be the final flight of the war,
• fly a passenger aircraft (1923 - Edirne - 9 passengers with an abandoned Italian Caproni Ca.5 aka Ca.57 or Breda M-1),
• construct a military aircraft from scratch (1924 - Izmir - Vecihi K-VI, first flight - January 28, 1925),
• build a speedboat (1930 - Kadıköy, Istanbul - Vecihi-SK-X),
• build a civilian aircraft (1930 - Kadıköy - Vecihi K-XIV)
• establish a civilian flying school (April 21, 1932 - V.S.T.M. Vecihi Sivil Tayyare Mektebi - Kadıköy),
• construct a seaplane (1933 - Kadıköy, Vecihi S-XVI),
• train the first Turkish aviatrix (1933 - Bedriye Bacı (Gökmen) Kadıköy, Istanbul)
• construct the country's first gliders (US–4 ve PS–2), while playing a pivotal role in the establishment of Turkish Bird (1935-1936 - Etimesgut - Ankara),
• receive a diploma abroad in aircraft engineering (February 27, 1939 - Weimar Engineering School, Germany),
• establish a privately-funded aviation publication (1948 - Kanatlılar Dergisi)
• establish a private airline company in Turkey (November 29, 1954-1960 Yeşilköy - Hürkuş Havayolları transported passengers and cargo),
• conduct aerial surveys for the Mining Research Institute (1961-1966).

During his flying career, which spanned a period of 52 years (1916-1967), Vecihi Hürkuş flew a total of 102 different models of aircraft and spent 30,000 hours, that is, 3.4 years of his life in the cockpit of aircraft.

In 1994, he was honored posthumously with the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) 50th Anniversary Award (1944-1994) for the considerable contributions he made in the field of civil aviation in Turkey.

Family

During the War of Independence, Vecihi married to Hadiye, the daughter of the chief of police in Akşehir. Two daughters, Gönül (Hürkuş Şarman) and Sevim (Hürkus Maxson), were born from this marriage. In 1925, he divorced Hadiye and married his early time sweetheart İhsan. Another daughter, Perran (Ülgen-Hürkuş), was born in 1927.

Legacy

The TAI Hürkuş turboprop trainer to be built by Turkish Aerospace Industries is named after Vecihi Hürkuş.

Sources

• Vecihi Hürkuş, Havalarda, 1915-1925, İstanbul, Kanaat Kitabevi, 1942.
• Vecihi Hürkuş, Bir Tayyarecinin Anıları: Yaşantı, İstanbul, YKY, 2000 ISBN 978 9 75 080219 5
• Mehmet Gürbüz Gürer, Vecihi Hürkuş "Göklerin Korkusuz Adamı", İstanbul, 2001.
• M. Bahattin Adigüzel, Türk Havaciliğinda İz Birakanlar, Ankara, 2001.

External links

• Biography
• War of Independence-Military Action in 1920 (Turkish)
• Hürkuş
• Turkish Aerospace Industries-TAI
• Photos about Vecihi Hürkuş

See also

Freebird Airlines