Vecihi Hürkuş's Travel to Anatolia That Flys People: Part-1

Air Travel Decision and Purpose:

The light that was thrown on the path of the establishment of the Turkish Aeronautical Association in 1925 was happiness for me. The noble joy in the behavior of my friends, who believed and trusted that I would succeed in the case, and especially our honorable President Fuat Bey (Fuat Ali Bulca (President of the THK: 18 October 1925 - January 1939)) was the congratulation and appreciation that I remember with honor. The first of these was the unchanging aim of organizing air travels covering all aspects of our country, and the second was the suggestion to discuss the situation in the general administrative committee, considering that my success was admirable.This interest was a great joy and reward for me.

In the joy of appreciation that appears in this way, I am preparing a large-scale travel for the Turkish Aeronautical Association, after a five-year hiatus, and this time to make propaganda flights with my Turkish private plane. My most important task, my only ideal, in this trip was to prepare the national aviation path by ascribing aviation science to the Turkish youth with a faithful love. It was my decision to convey the confidence of flight by making speeches by going down to even the smallest settlements as far as possible in order to achieve this purpose and to ensure that our people help the aviation cause with love.

The characteristics of these visits; The fact that the plane that will fly is a Turkish-made plane, to show our citizens what energy they have and to connect the aviation case to real main sources. Thus, I made the necessary preparations for a benevolent cause and took my mechanic Hamid, who contributed the most in the construction of the plane, with me.

Travel Plan: North and Central Anatolia flight route

Travel plan for this purpose; Starting from Ankara, in the northwest and again in the north, the Black Sea coast stretching from Ereğli, Zonguldak region to our eastern border, then visiting all cities, towns and even the smallest villages on mixed routes stretching from Central Anatolia to the west, I was given the responsibility of designing and implementing it. .

September 2, 1931: The Air Travel Begins

On the first day, as we rise from the ground amid the sincere farewells of the friends and community of people filling the square, we take off with our plane, with 50,000 papers in two big sacks other than its full weight. After a short salute flight to the institution's headquarters over Ankara, we started to cross the mountains in front of us in the northwest direction, but there are many settlements descending and rising below us, how can we pass without visiting them? As a requirement of our case, the decision is final, therefore we ascend, descend, and present our love, greetings and declarations to all peoples in accordance with the land situation.

Kizilcahamam

The only way of our small town, which is stuck among the rich pine forests of nature, was filled with the people and mini, mini schoolchildren, with flags in their hands. We left the town, which is not suitable for landing, and our people, who were fluttering with sincere enthusiasm, by flying very close to them with many tours, and presenting our declarations to which we gave our greetings and thanks. After crossing the Benli Mountains by entering our route, we approached our first stop, Gerede.

I landed in Gerede, I flew the Gerede's People

A green town at 1,600 meters above sea level, surrounded by mountains and endless pine forests to the north. He is an enlightened being with rich gardens and cultivated soil. I landed in a small field just east of town. Surrounding the field and seeing the plane for the first time, the people shout with enthusiasm, "Our plane, our plane". I hear this phrase often, with pleasure. Women, men, young and old, everyone admired this creature with interest. He was stroking the plane they were surrounding, and some even kissed the tips of the wings. This sight enchanted me. Especially the people's desire to fly added excitement to my joy. But the field I landed on was so small that it was impossible to fulfill their desires in this small square, especially in the low air pressure at an altitude of 1,600 meters. For this, I felt the need to look for another square around. Tiredness, rest did not come to my mind. The sincere interest of our people, especially their desire to fly, filled my heart. I began to look for opportunities to satisfy their desires. I found a large field suitable for the purpose, which we went to by car, following the descriptions of the townspeople, and turned back and took off to land at the new square by jumping on my plane. The community also began to form in the south of the town.

How long were the flights I started and how many citizens did I fly? There is no record in my notes, but I met the interest shown by the public and their new acquaintance's desire to fly with the plane with astonishment and importance. Men and women of all ages were dying to fly like an old habit. It was also an endless pleasure for me to see my ideal come true so easily.

After teaching many citizens from Geredi, who I spent a few hours with, about the pleasure of flying, the importance of aviation science and its useful and destructive powers in the defense of the homeland, we took off towards the city of Bolu, our first stopover point that day.

Bolu

We are on the road to Istanbul between mountains covered with forests wrapped in dark blue backgrounds. Even the small villages in this developed part of our country are nests with tile roofs, the walls of all the houses are white and cute. We fly in the tremors of thermal events, laughing, joking, greeting every citizen we see and scattering handfuls of leaflets.

Our city of Plus Bolu has started to appear, we have passed the overflowing part of the Bolu Mountains to the north, we are approaching our mansion point by greeting the small villages and public communities of the wide plain. Bolu, in short, is a beautiful Anatolian town. The beautiful buildings by the serpentine roads, the pointed minarets were works that expressed the character of a hardworking being. While we were greeting this entity from the air, the people were rushing to the north and out of town.

When I looked in that direction, I saw a dense mass of people on the plain a little far away. After completing my flight over the city, I returned to this group and landed after my tours, scattering the last remaining confetti in the sacks.

Here, too, we were always greeted with that feeling, always that excitement, and always that heartfelt enthusiasm. "Long live" cry of our people, we are on our arms. Our enlightened people, who watched the publications of the newspapers about my plane, welcomed this national success and the meaning of this visit as it deserved, and the words that came out of the warm lips that caressed our faces filled my ears. Long live, heroic Turk, these skies belong to your wings, we are proud of our aviators like you.”

I could not even find the opportunity to implement the program of this official visit. The Venerable Governor, the Garrison Commander, the Mayor and the distinguished elders of all classes of public organizations were caught in this raid. They were finally stopped by police intervention.

After the people of Gered, the people of Bolu also wanted to fly

After resting for a while, I started my speech. While I was trying to inculcate belief in aviation science and the importance of my airplane in the fields of civil life and national defense, my words were met with the people's cry, "We want to fly, we will fly".

I rejoiced in such enthusiasm of his desires. Now, I was in difficulty not to make aviation popular, but to not be able to fulfill the demands of all these citizens, young, old, male and female, to fly. Maybe two hours ago, our flights in Gerede were heard by the people of Bolu and it was as if this enthusiastic cheer was born from him. In the face of this supreme courage, a real incident came to my mind. In response to the fearful words of some of my friends, whom I encouraged to fly by talking about flight safety, I saw feelings of appreciation for the truth in the thoughts of these enlightened citizens.

I started flying with this joy, it was my pleasure to fly every citizen as much as possible. This activity took on a situation similar to the children at the festival riding horses up to the wall. The passengers of the plane were constantly changing, we were ascending and descending in flights of a few minutes. How far did we fly? Again, there is no recording in my notes, In fact, there is no possibility to save. As it started to get dark, we stopped the flight and started preparing the plane for our trip the next day. We spent that night among these sincere and dear people with joy in aviation issues and excitement.

(To be continued)