Vecihi Hurkus

Died: 16 July 1969
Ankara, Turkey
Occupation: aviator, engineer

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

Firsts

Without a doubt, Vecihi Hurkus 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 Ä°zmir Seydikx¶y 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 - Kadıkx¶y, Istanbul - Vecihi-SK-X),
build a civilian aircraft (1930 - Kadıkx¶y - Vecihi K-XIV)
establish a civilian flying school (April 21, 1932 - V.S.T.M. Vecihi Sivil Tayyare Mektebi - Kadıkx¶y),
construct a seaplane (1933 - Kadıkx¶y, Vecihi S-XVI),
train the first Turkish aviatrix (1933 - Bedriye Bacı (Gx¶kmen) Kadıkx¶y, 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 YeÅŸilkx¶y - Hurkus 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 Hurkus 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 AkÅŸehir. Two daughters, Gx¶nx¼l (Hurkus Åžarman) and Sevim (Hurkus Maxson), were born from this marriage. In 1925, he divorced Hadiye and married his early time sweetheart Ä°hsan. Another daughter, Perran (xœlgen-Hurkus), was born in 1927.

Legacy

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

Sources

Vecihi Hurkus, Havalarda, 1915-1925, Ä°stanbul, Kanaat Kitabevi, 1942.
Vecihi Hurkus, Bir Tayyarecinin Anıları: Yaşantı, İstanbul, YKY, 2000 ISBN 978 9 75 080219 5
Mehmet Gx¼rbx¼z Gx¼rer, Vecihi Hurkus "Gx¶klerin Korkusuz Adamı", Ä°stanbul, 2001.
M. Bahattin Adigx¼zel, Tx¼rk HavaciliÄŸinda Ä°z Birakanlar, Ankara, 2001.

More airplanes.

Source: WikiPedia