Edvard Rusjan

Edvard Rusjan (6 June 1886 – 9 January 1911)

Biography Rusjan was born in Trieste, Rusjan spent his childhood and adolescence in Gorizia, in the suburb of Rafut.

In his youth, he became a professional bicyclist, and designed his own bicycle models, together with his brother Josip Rusjan. He was also member of the Sokol gymnastic association.

He made his first flight on 25 November 1909, near Gorizia, in Eda I, a biplane of his own design. Eda was Edvard's nickname, given by his mother.

The flight was covered and reached a height of . On 29 November 1909, he flew at an altitude of . The original design was followed by several improved versions. He moved to a hangar near Miren south of Gorizia.

Rusjan first attended a public flight event with the model EDA V on 6 December 1909, when his aircraft broke apart at landing.

The brothers Rusjan ran out of finance for the construction of EDA VII. In 1910 Edvard Rusjan met the businessman Mihajlo Merćep from Zagreb, Croatia (then part of Austria-Hungary), who offered him financial help for his endeavors. The same year, the brothers moved to Zagreb, Croatia, when they started a project of airplane construction on larger scale together with first Croatian pilot Dragutin Novak, who flew before with Eduard Slavoljub Penkala. In November 1910, they constructed a new model, called "Sokol".

One Slovenian Armed Forces C-27J Spartan transport plane was named after Edvard Rusjan.