Torolf Eklund (13 April 1912 – 12 December 2000) was a Finnish

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

designer, who worked at the

Valtion lentokonetehdas ''Valtion lentokonetehdas'' (State aircraft factory) was a Finnish aircraft manufacturing company that was founded on 23 February 1928 from the IVL or I.V.L. factory (Ilmailuvoimien lentokonetehdas, Finnish Air Force Aircraft Factory), founded in ...

between 1935 and 1962. He privately designed and built his own small single-seat

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

, the

Eklund TE-1 The Eklund TE-1 was a Finnish-built single-seat flying boat of the late 1940s. Design and development The TE-1 was designed in late 1948 by Torolf Eklund, who was a Finnish aircraft designer for Valtion Lentokonetehdas between 1935 and 1962. Th ...

, in the late 1940s. He was born in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. He graduated from the Helsinki University of Technology with a master's degree in aviation during the 1930s. As a student he formed the aviation club Polyteknikkojen Ilmailukerho, which still exists today. He was a reserve officer in the

Finnish Air Force The Finnish Air Force (FAF or FiAF; fi, Ilmavoimat, , Air forces; sv, Flygvapnet, , Air weapon) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of Finnis ...

and was working for the aircraft industry during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Eklund was also the chairman for the Finnish Aviation Engineer's Club between 1953 and 1954. Eklund was also the designer of the

Valmet Tuuli The Valmet Tuuli was a trainer aircraft, developed for the Finnish Air Force by the State Aircraft Factory (''Valtion lentokonetehdas'', VL). The aircraft was to be produced in 3 different versions. The last version, Tuuli III was redesigned from ...

aircraft.

Sources

''Ilmojen halki'' I-II, Karisto, Hämeenlinna, 1974.

Sources

Further reading