Yıldız Kayalar Eruçman (born 1919) was the first

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

female parachutist.

Early life

Yıldız Kayalar was born in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

Kingdom of Greece The Kingdom of Greece (, Romanization, romanized: ''Vasíleion tis Elládos'', pronounced ) was the Greece, Greek Nation state, nation-state established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally ...

in 1919. Her family was of

descent, and according to

Population exchange Population transfer or resettlement is a type of mass migration that is often imposed by a state policy or international authority. Such mass migrations are most frequently spurred on the basis of ethnicity or religion, but they also occur d ...

agreement between

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, her family moved to

, and settled in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

in 1924. In 1934, after the

Surname Law The Surname Law () of the Republic of Turkey is a law adopted on 21 June 1934, requiring all citizens of Turkey to adopt the use of fixed, hereditary surnames. Prior to 1934, Turkish families in the major urban centres had names by which they were ...

, the family assumed the surname ''Kayalar''. ''Eruçman'' is her surname by marriage.

Career

In 1935, after reading an article in a foreign periodical about the female pilots, she applied to the training center of

Turkish Aeronautical Association Turkish Aeronautical Association () is a non-profit organization with an aim of increasing public awareness and participation in aviation related activities and the national body governing air sports in Turkey. The association was founded with ...

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...

's adopted daughter and aviator

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 became the world's first female fighter pilot, at age 23. ...

personally concerned herself with Eruçman's training. Together with three other women in the training center, namely

Edibe Subaşı 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 when she was three years old. In 1937, the Turkish Aeronautical Association (THK) was estab ...

, Nezihe Viranyalı and Sahavet Karapas, she received her aviation certificate. On 4 October 1935, she parachuted from a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

-made aircraft of type

Polikarpov R-5 The Polikarpov R-5 () was a Soviet Union, Soviet reconnaissance bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was the standard light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft of the Soviet Air Force for much of the 1930s, while also being used heavily as a civilian ...

. She was the first ever female sky diver in Turkey. In later years, she continued in the same association as a trainer. However, her profession was not officially acknowledged. So, her title was "

minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...

worker", which was considered one of the most dangerous occupations of that time.Hürriyet newspaper
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erucman, Yildiz 1919 births Greek emigrants to Turkey Turkish women aviators Turkish skydivers Possibly living people