Mehmet Fesa Evrensev (1878, Istanbul - 9 April 1951, Istanbul) was the first Turkish Ottoman aircraft pilot and the first president of Turkish Airlines.[1]
Biography
Fesa Evrensev was born in 1878 in the Gedikpaşa neighborhood of Istanbul. He entered the Military Academy after Galatasaray High School and graduated as a Cavalry Lieutenant in 1899. He passed the exam in first place to become a pilot in 1911 and was sent to France together with Yusuf Kenan Bey to take flight training. After returning to the Ottoman Empire in 1912, he served as a fleet commander during a number of flight missions in the Balkan War. During World War I, he was stationed in the Caucasus Front. On his way to the Caucasus, the ship he boarded in the Black Sea, off the coast of Amasra, was attacked by the Russians. All those on the sunken ship were taken prisoner by the Russians. His captivity lasted for about five years in Siberia, and he escaped to return home in June 1920. He participated in the Turkish War of Independence and was stationed on the Eastern Front and on the Western Front before the Great Offensive. Later, he was appointed as a teacher to the Air Academy in Izmir. He retired in November 1925.[1]
In 1933, he was appointed as the manager of the Turkish State Airlines, Turkey's first air transport organization and predecessor to Turkish Airlines.[2] A year later, he was assigned to the Turkish Aeronautical Association.
Fesa Bey, Turkey's first pilot, died on April 9, 1951, and was buried in the Karacaahmet Cemetery in the Üsküdar district of Istanbul.[3]
See also
Notes
References
- 1 2 "FESA EVRENSEV". www.tayyareci.com. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
- ↑ "Mehmet Fesa Evrensev Kimdir? İlk Lisanslı Pilotumuzun Hayatı ve Kariyeri" (in Turkish). 2021-08-16. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
- ↑ Havayolu 101 (2021-04-09). "THY'nin İlk Genel Müdürü: Mehmet Fesa Evrensev". Medium. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
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