Edvard Rusjan

{{short description|Slovenian aviation pioneer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Edvard Rusjan | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Edvard Rusjan 1911.jpg | image_size = | alt = Edvard Rusjan in 1911 | caption = Edvard Rusjan in 1911 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1886|06|06}} | birth_place = Trieste, Austria-Hungary | disappeared_date =  | disappeared_place = | disappeared_status = | death_date = {{Death date and age|1911|01|09|1886|06|06}} | death_place = Belgrade, Kingdom of Serbia | death_cause = | body_discovered = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | monuments = | nationality = | other_names = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = bicycle retailer/manufacturer, airplane inventor/manufacturer, pilot trainer | years_active = | employer = | organization = | agent = | known_for = | notable_works = | style = | television = | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | movement = | opponents = | boards = | criminal_charge =  | criminal_penalty = | criminal_status = | spouse = | partner =  | children = | parents = | relatives = | callsign = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | module = | module2 = | module3 = | module4 = | module5 = | module6 = | website =  | footnotes = }}

'''Edvard Rusjan''' (6 June 1886 – 9 January 1911)<ref name="Rusjan" /><ref name="Sitar" /> was a Slovenian–Friulian flight pioneer and airplane constructor from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He died in an airplane crash in Belgrade.<ref name="Rusjan">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://nl.ijs.si/fedora/get/sbl:2704/VIEW/ |title=Rusjan Edvard |encyclopedia=Slovenski biografski leksikon |editor=Vide Ogrin, Petra |editor2=Cankar, Izidor |display-editors=et al |date=1925–1991 |language=sl |last=Mesesnel |first=France |isbn=978-961-268-001-5 |access-date=6 June 2012 |archive-date=7 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607191751/https://www.slovenska-biografija.si/oseba/sbi528746/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vazduhoplovnetradicijesrbije.rs/index.php/clancivlepojevica/160-m-mercep-i-e-rusjan |title=Конструктори аероплана и авијатичари Михаило Мерћеп и Едуард Русјан |access-date=31 August 2013 |archive-date=18 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418225931/http://www.vazduhoplovnetradicijesrbije.rs/index.php/clancivlepojevica/160-m-mercep-i-e-rusjan |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Biography == Rusjan was born in Trieste,<ref name="Rusjan" /> then the major port of Austria-Hungary (now in Italy). His parents were both natives of the Gorizia and Gradisca region: his father, Franc Rusjan, was a Slovene, and his mother, Grazia Cabas, was Friulian.<ref>{{cite book |title=Brata Edvard in Josip Rusjan iz Gorice: začetkí motornega letenja med Slovenci |first=Srečko |last=Gombač |year=2004 |publisher=Puhek}}</ref> Rusjan spent his childhood and adolescence in Gorizia, 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.<ref name="Rusjan" /><ref name="RS-Rusjan">{{cite web|url=http://www.ukom.gov.si/en/media_relations/background_information/science_and_technology/edvard_rusjan_pioneer_of_slovene_aviation/|title=Edvard Rusjan, Pioneer of Slovene Aviation|publisher=Republic of Slovenia – Government Communication Office|access-date=11 September 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140423044448/http://www.ukom.gov.si/en/media_relations/background_information/science_and_technology/edvard_rusjan_pioneer_of_slovene_aviation/|archive-date=23 April 2014}}</ref>

The flight was covered {{convert|60|m|abbr=on}} and reached a height of {{convert|2|m|abbr=on}}. On 29 November 1909, he flew {{convert|600|m|abbr=on}} at an altitude of {{convert|12|m|abbr=on}}. 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.<ref name="Rusjan" /> 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gradišek |first1=Anton |title=Edvard Rusjan |journal=Novice IJS |date=December 2019 |volume=2019 |issue=191 |page=25 |url=https://www.ijs.si/ijsw/Arhiv%20Novic?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=Novice191.pdf |access-date=January 10, 2025}}</ref> [[File:Rusjanovo letalo Eda.JPG|thumb|Replica of Rusjan airplane Eda V]] The brothers Rusjan ran out of finance for the construction of EDA VII. In 1910 Edvard Rusjan met the businessman Mihajlo Merćep from Zagreb, Croatia (then part of Austria-Hungary), who offered him financial help for his endeavors. The same year, the brothers moved to Zagreb, 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. <br/>In November 1910, they constructed a new model, called "Sokol".<ref name="Rusjan" />

In January 1911, Edvard and Josip Rusjan went on a promotional tour through the Balkan cities. During a flight in Belgrade, Serbia on {{OldStyleDateDY|9 January|1911|27 December 1910}} a strong wind broke a wing of Edvard's aeroplane and it dived into a railway embankment near the Belgrade Fortress in a fatal crash.<ref name="Sitar">{{cite book |title=Edvard Rusjan |first=Sandi |last=Sitar |year=1989 |page=72 |publisher=Partizanska knjiga |id={{COBISS|ID=7780352}}}}</ref><ref name="RS-Rusjan"/> 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 is dedicated to Rusjan's memory.

One of the DC-10s in the JAT fleet was named after Edvard Rusjan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.taxiways.de/DC-10/46988_278.html|title=MC DONNELL – DOUGLAS DC – 10|website=taxiways.de|access-date=31 January 2017}}</ref>

One Slovenian Armed Forces C-27J Spartan transport plane was named after Edvard Rusjan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://reporter.si/clanek/slovenija/martinu-krpanu-se-bo-pridruzil-edvard-rusjan-konec-leta-prihaja-se-eno-vojasko-tovorno-letalo-spartan-1373582|title=Slovenian Armed Forces C-27J Spartan naming|website=reporter.si|access-date=3 October 2024}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category|Edvard Rusjan}} * [https://www.edvard-rusjan.it/ Edvard Rusjan Biography] {{in lang|it|sl|fr|en|de}} * http://www.vazduhoplovnetradicijesrbije.rs/index.php/clancivlepojevica/160-m-mercep-i-e-rusjan {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418225931/http://www.vazduhoplovnetradicijesrbije.rs/index.php/clancivlepojevica/160-m-mercep-i-e-rusjan |date=18 April 2021 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rusjan, Edvard}} Category:1886 births Category:1911 deaths Category:Aerodynamicists Category:Aviation inventors Category:Aircraft designers Category:Aviation pioneers Category:Aviators from Austria-Hungary Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Serbia Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1911 Category:Ethnic Slovene people Category:Inventors from Austria-Hungary Category:Engineers from Trieste Category:People from Gorizia Category:Burials at Belgrade New Cemetery