Tuesday 27 February marked 110 years since the death of Captain Tayyareci Fethi Bey, one of the first pilots in Turkish aviation history, who gave his name to Fethiye.
Tayyareci Fethi Bey was born in Istanbul in 1891. He graduated from the Naval Academy and became an officer in the Navy. On July 3, 1912 he was sent to Bristol Airplane School for piloting training from where he transferred to the air class and served as a pilot in the Western and Eastern Army. He was awarded the ‘silver medal of merit’ for his successes in the Balkan War in 1913.
In 1914, he was promoted to the rank of captain and became the second team officer of the aircraft company. At the beginning of 1914, he was among the first in the team that would go to Egypt.
On February 8, 1914, he and his comrade Sadık Bey started the Istanbul-Cairo flight with the Blériot XI/B plane named ‘Muavenet-i Milliye’.
On February 27, 1914, they crashed near Şimiriye subdistrict of Taberiye district of Damascus and were among the first losses in Turkish aviation history. His grave, along with Sadık Bey’s, is in the Tomb of Saladin in Damascus.
He received the title of the air force’s first aviation martyr (‘şehit’ means ‘martyr’ a phrase used for fallen military personnel). The town was previously known as Telmessos and Meğri and in 1934 the town’s name was changed to Fethiye in honour of Şehit Fethi Bey.
Every year on the anniversary of his death, a commemoration ceremony is held by his statue in Şehit Fethi Bey Parkı, the focal point of the park, very fitting for Tayyareci Fethi Bey whom the town of Fethiye is named after.
The ceremony included an exhibition flight by Solo Türk, the aerobatic team of the Turkish Air Force.
In Photos: Fethiye commemorates the 110th anniversary of the death of Captain Tayyareci Fethi Bey
Photos by Norman Clark
Photos and videos by Şefik Akkurt
Photos by Hamdi Yaman
Photos by Natalia Alpatova
