PILOTS from Turkey

Top 2

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Turkish Pilots of all time. This list of famous Turkish Pilots is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Sabiha Gökçen (1913 - 2001)

With an HPI of 67.47, Sabiha Gökçen is the most famous Turkish Pilot.  Her biography has been translated into 50 different languages on wikipedia.

Sabiha Gökçen (Turkish: [sabiˈha ɟøcˈtʃɛn]; 22 March 1913 – 22 March 2001) was a Turkish aviator. During her flight career, she flew around 8,000 hours and participated in 32 different military operations. She was the world's first female fighter pilot, aged 23. As an orphan, she was one of the nine children adopted by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. She is recognized as the first female combat pilot by The Guinness Book of World Records (in fact she was the first female fighter pilot, as the first female combat pilot was Marie Marvingt in 1915) and was selected as the only female pilot for the poster of "The 20 Greatest Aviators in History" published by the United States Air Force in 1996. Sabiha Gökçen Airport, the second airport in Istanbul, is named after her.

2. Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi (1609 - 1640)

With an HPI of 58.79, Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi is the 2nd most famous Turkish Pilot.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi (Ottoman Turkish: هزارفنّ أحمد چلبی,, lit. 'Polymath Ahmed the wise'; 1609 – 1640) was an Ottoman scientist, inventor, chemist, astronomer, physician, Andalusi musician, and poet from Constantinople, reported in the writings of traveler Evliya Çelebi to have achieved sustained unpowered flight.