Hazarfen Ahmed Celebi

Hazarfen Ahmed Celebi

Hazarfen Ahmed Celebi (Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi) was a legendary Ottoman aviator of 17th-century Constantinople (present day Istanbul), purported in the writings of traveller Evliya Çelebi to have achieved sustained unpowered flight.
 

The title "Hazarfen" was given by Evliya Celebi to Ahmed Celebi. The title means "a thousand sciences.

The 17th century writings of Evliyâ Çelebi relate this story of Hazarfen Ahmed Çelebi, circa 1630-1632:

"First he practiced by flying over the pulpit of Okmeydanı eight or nine times with eagle wings, using the force of the wind. Then, as Sultan Murad Khan (Murad IV) was watching from the Sinan Pasha mansion at Sarayburnu, he flew from the very top of the Galata Tower and landed in the Doğancılar Square in Üsküdar, with the help of the south-west wind. Then Murad Khan granted him a sack of golden coins, and said: 'This is a scary man. He is capable of doing anything he wishes. It is not right to keep such people,' and thus sent him to Algeria on exile. He died there".

—Evliyâ Çelebi