Jurgis Dobkevičius (born March 23, 1900 in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, died testing his own construction airplane

Dobi-III Dobi-III is the third and the last aircraft designed by Lithuanian aviator Jurgis Dobkevičius. Fighter Dobi-III was designed and tested in 1924. On June 8, 1926, it crashed at Kaunas Aerodrome killing its designer. Specifications See also ...

in a crash June 8, 1926 in Kaunas) was a Lithuanian aviator and aircraft designer.

Military biography

Dobkevičius was a volunteer of the Lithuanian Army and the first officially recognised military pilot of the

Lithuanian Air Force The Lithuanian Air Force or LAF ( lt, Lietuvos karinės oro pajėgos, abbreviated as ''LK KOP'') is the military aviation branch of the Lithuanian armed forces. It is formed from professional military servicemen and non-military personnel. Units ...

, Commander of Air Squadron in 1920. Dobkevičius participated as reconnaissance pilot in Lithuanian-Polish War, completing 24 combat missions. He was also known for his outstanding memory—contemporary sources say that at the dinner table he played one or two games of chess with any opponent without a board. Dobkevičius was one of the first football players in Lithuania, in 1922 playing for "Aviacija", an Air Force team.

Engineering career

After retiring from military service in 1923, Dobkevičius studied at L'Ecole Superieure d'Aeronautique in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, graduating in 1925 and becoming the first professional Lithuanian aircraft designer. Dobkevičius designed a line of aircraft ''Dobi'': Dobi-I, Dobi-II and the fatal variant,

. Jurgis Dobkevičius was buried in

Panemunė Panemunė (; ) is a town in Lithuania. It is situated on the banks of the Nemunas River opposite Sovetsk, south from Pagėgiai, in Tauragė County. It is a border checkpoint for traffic to and from Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast). The magnific ...

Cemetery.

References

External links

Short biography and photo
1900 births 1926 deaths Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents Lithuanian aerospace engineers Lithuanian Army officers Lithuanian aviators Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Lithuania Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1926 {{Aviation-bio-stub