Edibe Subaşı (also known as Edibe Kutucuoğlu, 1920 – 7 May 2011) was a Turkish aviator. Subaşı was born in Erzincan, and her family moved to

Adana Adana (; ; ) is a major city in southern Turkey. It is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The administrative seat of Adana Province, Adana province, it has a population of 2.26 million. Adana lies in the heart ...

when she was three years old. In 1937, the Turkish Aeronautical Association (THK) was established by

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, or Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 Surname Law (Turkey), until 1934 ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish Mareşal (Turkey), field marshal, Turkish National Movement, re ...

. 36 women applied for training as aviator. Subaşı lied about her age, adding two years to her actual age, and was accepted to the training at Eskişehir. She and four other women, including

Sabiha Gökçen Sabiha Gökçen (; 22 March 1913 – 22 March 2001) was a Turkish aviator. During her flight career, she flew around 8,000 hours and participated in 32 different military operations. She was the world's first female fighter pilot, aged 23. As an ...

and

Yıldız Eruçman Yıldız Kayalar Eruçman (born 1919) was the first Turkish female parachutist. Early life Yıldız Kayalar was born in Thessaloniki, Kingdom of Greece in 1919. Her family was of Turkish descent, and according to Population exchange agreement b ...

, became Turkey's first women pilots. Subaşı trained as an aerobatics pilot and as a parachutist, and later became a gliding and light aircraft flight instructor at the THK. She performed at aerobatics shows in the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, Greece, France and Italy. In 1957, Subaşı had a flying accident and retired. She died in a nursing home in

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...

in 2011.

References

1920s births People from Erzincan Turkish women aviators Flight instructors Aerobatic pilots 2011 deaths {{Authority control