Rudolf Fizir

Fizir FN was designed by Rudolf Fizir and the prototype was manufactured in his factory in Petrovaradin in 1929

Rudolf Fizir (born January 13, 1891 in Ludbreg , † November 11, 1960 in Zagreb ) was a Yugoslav engineer and aircraft designer. During his time he constructed and designed numerous land and seaplanes. Rudolf Fizir is considered the largest and most productive Croatian aircraft manufacturer.

Life

Fizir was born in Ludbreg, a small town on the Drava in northern Croatia, as the second of four children of Mije and Valentine Fizir . After primary school in Ludbregu and attending the craft school in Zagreb, he studied aeronautical engineering at the Technical University of Toulouse in France. He designed his first airplane in 1913 as a student. Fizir was considered a talented student and got his first job in September 1914 at Fokker Aeroplanbau GmbH in Schwerin . In 1915 he received his degree as an engineer. Anton Fokker commissioned Fizir to organize the Fokker production in Budapest.

After his return he worked as a designer in Germany for the company Hansa and Brandenburgische Flugzeugwerke GmbH in Brandenburg near Berlin. At the end of the First World War, he briefly changed branches and became a designer at the automobile company Hansa-Lloyd-Werke AG. From November 1918, he was a designer at the Steyr automobile works in Stettin.

Fizir AF2 amphibious aircraft , 1931

In the 1920s he returned to his hometown and was involved in the construction project of the Zagreb aircraft factory, which was to become the center of aviation in the state. Since Fizir did not agree with the political opinion of the then government, he went into business for himself and began to build his own aircraft at his own expense and without understanding from the government in the backyard of an industrial plant in Petrovaradin , a district of Novi Sad .

Rudolf Fizir died on November 11, 1960 in Zagreb of pneumonia. In the exhibition of the Technical Museum in Zagreb and Belgrade, some well-preserved and restored aircraft by Rudolf Fizir can be seen. A total of 18 constructions (2 amphibious, 3 sea and 13 land planes) come from Fizir, which were designed in Petrovaradin and whose prototypes were built there and later manufactured in Yugoslav aircraft factories.

Zmaj Fizir FP-2, 1934

In 1927, Fizir's reconnaissance aircraft with a 240 hp Maybach engine won first prize in an international competition. Alone of the two-seat biplane training aircraft with open cockpit Fizir FN , which Fizir designed in 1929, 210 pieces were built between 1931 and 1943 and were in service in various countries.

Posthumously

In the same year in which he died, he was awarded the prestigious Paul Tissandier Diploma for his contribution to the world of aviation by the International Aviation Association Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FIA) .

literature

Rudolf Fizir - najveći hrvatski Konstruktor zrakoplova (Croatian)