Edvard Rusjan

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Edvard Rusjan

Edvard Rusjan (born June 6, 1886 in Trieste , † January 9, 1911 near Belgrade ) was an Austro-Hungarian aviation pioneer .

Edvard Rusjan, son of a cooper , also learned the craft of a cooper in Gorizia in his father's business. From 1900 to 1908, Rusjan was involved in the construction of model aircraft. The following year he switched to real aircraft . From the aircraft engine manufacturer Anzani , whom he met at the flight week in Brescia , he received an aircraft engine with an output of 22 to 25 hp. In return, they worked together to develop model aircraft. The engine was used for all aircraft models with the name EDA I-VII , which he built with his older brother Josip (* 1884).

Replica of the EDA V.
  • FDFA I: He flew for the first time in the biplane on November 25, 1909 near Gorizia. This was the first self-built powered flight in Austria-Hungary.
  • EDA VI was a monoplane modeled on Blériot . Rusjan flew with the pilots Heim and Sablatnig in Gorizia in June 1910.
  • As a one-and-a-half-decker, EDA VII already enabled one passenger to be taken along.

Anzani's engine turned out to be too weak and so he and his new partner, the entrepreneur Merćep from Zagreb in Paris, bought a 50 hp engine, the Gnôme . Rusjan flew around Zagreb about 20 times in November and December with the Merćep-R plane , which was partly based on the Etrich Taube . Rusjan only needed about 28 meters to take off with this aircraft. This was the shortest runway necessary in the world at that time.

In 1911, Rusjan was killed in a crash caused by bad weather near Belgrade.

His brother Josip tried another collaboration with Merćep. To do this, he also built other aircraft for him. He also tried to find a job with Blériot. When that failed, Josip went to Argentina.

In 2009 the Central Bank of Slovenia honored the aviation pioneer Edvard Rusjan on the occasion of the "100th anniversary of the first motorized flight over Slovenia" by issuing collector coins worth EUR 3,  EUR 30 and EUR 300.

References
  1. ↑ Memorial coins 2009 on the website of the Slovenian Central Bank (English)

Web links

Commons : Edvard Rusjan  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Rusjan, Edvard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Aviation pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH June 6, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Trieste
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 1911
Place of death Belgrade