Turkey step by step with Vecihi 14

Famous Turkish aviator Vecihi Hürkuş is one of the first people to come to mind when it comes to aviation. Pilot, fighter pilot, aircraft designer, aircraft manufacturer, aircraft maintainer, airline founder, airline operator, flight school founder, flight school teacher, flight school operator… In short, he is the person who introduced and popularized aviation in Turkey.

Aviation activities, which started in 1916 with the acquisition of his pilot's certificate, continued until the closure of Hürkuş Airlines, Turkey's first civilian airline company, which he founded in 1954. Vecihi Hürkuş has struggled for aviation for forty-three years, always doing the first and the impossible. Those who said no, did their best to make it fail. Even after the airline company he founded was closed, they did not mention his name anywhere, they did their best to make it be forgotten.

In the movie Smiling Eyes, which was shot in Yeşilçam in 1977, he named the character "Pilot, Şener Şen" Vecihi, in love with Ayşen Gruda, the daughter of Yaşar Usta, who used his airplane from the thirties with his pilot's glasses, a pilot's cap covering his ears and a leather jacket. Directed by Ertem Eğilmez. The appropriateness of naming a pilot character in a comedy movie, Vecihi, is debatable. However, in the years when the movie was shot, no one in the new generation knew about the pilot Vecihi Hürkuş. Most young people heard the name Vecihi for the first time in this movie. After this movie, people who are very interested in aviation began to be called Vecihi.

Vecihi Hürkuş did not give up on difficulties. He is both daring, hardworking, and very idealistic. In 1931, he went on two separate tours of Turkey with his own Vecihi 14 model aircraft to generate income for the Tayyare Society, today's Turkish Aeronautical Association.

On the first tour he started from Ankara on September 2, 1931, he returned to Ankara after landing at 23 different destinations. We can define this tour as the Black Sea region tour. The coastal cities of the Black Sea region were visited from Bolu to Rize, and on the way back, the southern borders of the Black Sea region were followed.

On November 9, 1931, he started his second tour from Ankara, and after descending to 34 different destinations, he finished in Istanbul. The corner points of the second tour were Ankara, Konya, Alanya, Muğla, Adapazarı and Istanbul.

I could not find a map showing these two tours of Turkey together. That's why I added the map I drew myself to the article. (Vecihi Hürkuş had to change her flight plan, which is included in the attached newspaper clipping, during the first tour, probably due to weather conditions.)

On the occasion of this article, I respectfully commemorate Vecihi Hürkuş, the leading figure who put great effort into Turkish aviation in every aspect and at every level.