Edvard Rusjan

Picture - Edvard Rusjan in 1911

Edvard Rusjan (6 July 1886 - 9 January 1911) was a Slovene flight pioneer and airplane constructor. He died in a plane crush in Belgrade.

Biography

Rusjan was born in Trieste, then the major port of Austria-Hungary (now in Italy). His parents were both natives from the Gorizia and Gradisca region: his father, Franc Rusjan, was a Slovene, and his mother, Grazia Cabas, was Friulan. Rusjan spent his childhood and adolescence in Gorizia, in the suburb of Rafut.

In his youth, he became a professional bicyclist, and designed his own bicycle models, together with his brother Josip Rusjan. He was also member of the Sokol gymnastic association.

He made his first flight near Gorizia, on 25 November 1909 in Eda I, a biplane of his own design, which was followed by several improved designs. He moved to a hangar near Miren south of Gorizia.

Rusjan first attended a public flight event with the model EDA V in March 1910, near Miren. In June of the same year, he tried the next model, EDA V, which enabled him to fly 40 meters above the ground and overfly the whole Miren Field.

Picture - Replica of Rusjan airplane Eda V

The brothers Rusjan ran out of finance for the construction of EDA VII. In 1910, Edvard Rusjan met the Croatian businessman Mihajlo Merćep, who offered him financial help for his endeavors. The same year, the brothers Rusjan moved to Zagreb, Croatia, when they started a project of airplane construction on larger scale. In September 1910, they constructed a new model.

In January 1911, Edvard and Josip Rusjan went on a promotional tour through the Balkan cities. During a flight in Belgrade, Serbia, his airplane's wing broke, and he crashed near Kalemegdan fortress. His funeral was attended by a large crowd of about 14,000 people.

He is buried at the New Cemetery, lot 15, grave 343.

Legacy

Picture - Slovenian commemorative Euro coin

The Maribor Edvard Rusjan Airport and asteroid 19633 Rusjan are named after him. The commercial and business center Eda Center in Nova Gorica is dedicated to Rusjan's memory.

Sources

Sitar, Sandi dr. Letalstvo in Slovenci I., Ljubljana, Borec, 1985. (COBISS)
Kladnik Darinka, Zgodovina letalstva na Slovenskem: od začetkov do dana�njih dni, Ljubljana, 2008. (COBISS)

More airplanes.

Source: WikiPedia