Edvard Rusjan (6 June 1886 – 9 January 1911) was a flight pioneer and airplane constructor from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He died in an airplane crash in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Biography

Rusjan was born in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

, then the major port of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

(now in Italy). His parents were both natives of the

Gorizia and Gradisca The Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca (; ; ), historically sometimes shortened to and spelled "Goritz", was a crown land of the Habsburg dynasty within the Austrian Littoral on the Adriatic Sea, in what is now a multilingual border area of ...

region: his father, Franc Rusjan, was a Slovene, and his mother, Grazia Cabas, was

Friulan Friulian ( ) or Friulan (natively or ; ; ; ) is a Romance language belonging to the Rhaeto-Romance family. Friulian is spoken in the Friuli region of northeastern Italy and has around 600,000 speakers, the vast majority of whom also speak It ...

. Rusjan spent his childhood and adolescence in

Gorizia Gorizia (; ; , ; ; ) is a town and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, Region ...

, in the suburb of Rafut. In his youth, he became a professional bicyclist, and designed his own bicycle models, together with his brother Josip Rusjan. He was also member of the Sokol gymnastic association. He made his first flight on 25 November 1909, near Gorizia, in Eda I, a biplane of his own design. Eda was Edvard's nickname, given by his mother. The flight was covered and reached a height of . On 29 November 1909, he flew at an altitude of . The original design was followed by several improved versions. He moved to a hangar near Miren south of Gorizia. Rusjan first attended a public flight event with the model EDA V on 6 December 1909, when his aircraft broke apart at landing. In June 1910, he tried the model EDA VI, which enabled him to fly 40 meters above the ground and overfly the whole Miren Field. Rusjanovo letalo Eda

The brothers Rusjan ran out of finance for the construction of EDA VII. In 1910 Edvard Rusjan met the businessman Mihajlo Merćep from

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Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

(then part of

), who offered him financial help for his endeavors. The same year, the brothers moved to

, Croatia, when they started a project of airplane construction on larger scale together with first Croatian pilot Dragutin Novak, who flew before with Eduard Slavoljub Penkala.
In November 1910, they constructed a new model, called "Sokol". In January 1911, Edvard and Josip Rusjan went on a promotional tour through the

Balkan The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

cities. During a flight in

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

on a strong wind broke a wing of Edvard's aeroplane and it dived into a railway embankment near the

Belgrade Fortress The Belgrade Fortress ( sr-Cyrl, Београдска тврђава, Beogradska tvrđava, Hungarian: Nándorfehérvár), consists of the old citadel (Upper and Lower Town) and Kalemegdan Park (Large and Little Kalemegdan) on the confluence of th ...

in a fatal crash. His funeral was attended by a large crowd of about 14,000 people. He is interred at Belgrade's New Cemetery, lot 15, grave 343.

Legacy

The Maribor Edvard Rusjan Airport and asteroid 19633 Rusjan are named after him. The commercial and business center ''Eda Center'' in

Nova Gorica Nova Gorica () is a town in western Slovenia, on the border with Italy. It is the seat of the Municipality of Nova Gorica. Nova Gorica is a planned town, built according to the principles of modernist architecture after 1947, when the Treaty of pe ...

is dedicated to Rusjan's memory. One of the

DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971 ...

s in the JAT fleet was named after Edvard Rusjan. One Slovenian Armed Forces C-27J Spartan transport plane was named after Edvard Rusjan.

References

External links

Edvard Rusjan Biography
* http://www.vazduhoplovnetradicijesrbije.rs/index.php/clancivlepojevica/160-m-mercep-i-e-rusjan {{DEFAULTSORT:Rusjan, Edvard 1886 births 1911 deaths Engineers from Trieste People from Gorizia Aircraft designers Aviation pioneers Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Serbia Aviators from Austria-Hungary Ethnic Slovene people Aerodynamicists Aviation inventors Burials at Belgrade New Cemetery Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1911 Inventors from Austria-Hungary