34 Facts About Tadija Sondermajer

Tadija R Sondermajer was a Serbian aviator, aeronautical engineer and a pioneer of Yugoslav aviation.

In 1927 Tadija Sondermajer founded Aeroput the first civil aviation company in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Tadija Sondermajer had three siblings: Vladimir, Stanislav "Stasko" and sister Jadviga.

Tadija Sondermajer was educated at a local school before going to Gymnasium where he proved to be a good student; He graduated from the Second Belgrade High School in 1910.

Tadija Sondermajer had planned to pursue a professional career in architecture and after graduation left the country for the Faculty of Technology in Heidelberg.

In October 1912 when the First Balkan War broke out and Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, and Bulgaria raised against the Ottoman Empire, twenty years old Tadija Sondermajer left his studies in Germany and immediately rushed back home enlisting in the Serbian cavalry as a volunteer.

In 1915 Tadija Sondermajer is promoted Lieutenant and decorated with the gold medal for courage.

The Tadija Sondermajer brothers crossed the snowy Albanian mountains in the arduous winter retreat with the rest of the Serbian army and a substantial number of civilians; they settled on the Greek island of Corfu in early 1916.

Tadija Sondermajer is then assigned to MF 82 squadron based at the airfield base of Vertekop on 6 August 1916 to support the Allied offensive.

Tadija Sondermajer finished best in class following with training at the Aerial Gunnery School in Cazaux before being recruited to join a French fighting squadron on the western front while his brother headed back to the Salonika front.

Tadija Sondermajer saved himself by performing flying acrobatics, which made the enemy failed to shot down him.

Tadija Sondermajer is asked to launch a major initiative to replace World War I era aircraft still in service with more modern ones.

In May 1922 along with demobilised Serbian aviators and veterans from the Salonika front, Tadija Sondermajer decided to form an Aero Club, the first non-profit flying sports club in the country.

Tadija Sondermajer was elected as the club's vice-president, and Prince Pavle became president.

Tadija Sondermajer was the only one who accepted the chance to defend his honour.

At Crnjaski's passionate insistence that the duel continues, Tadija Sondermajer shot into the air and departed.

Tadija Sondermajer pledged to launch the Belgrade-Zagreb line while the state promised to cover three-quarters of the cost per kilometre of flight in cash and in kind.

Tadija Sondermajer proposed to conduct a promotional stage flight with Paris-Bombay-Belgrade with pilot Leonid Bajdak to show the value and capability of Serbian pilots and the safety of air travel helping to spark the public's interest in flight and hopefully bring new shareholders that could save the company from bankruptcy.

Tadija Sondermajer and Russian born Leonid Bajdak chose to fly Paris to Bombay to Belgrade aboard a French biplane Potez XXV aircraft with a Lorraine-450rich Dietrich engine, nobody had ever flown such a route before, flying over endless uninhabited ranges of the Middle East and southwest Asia.

Bajdak and Tadija Sondermajer landed back in Belgrade's Bezanija airport having completed Paris-Belgrade-Aleppo-Basra-Jask-Karachi-Bombay-Karachi-Jask-Basra-Aleppo-Belgrade.

Aeroput was established on 17 June 1927, after the historic flight, Tadija Sondermajer became famous rescuing Aeroput from bankruptcy; Aeroput shares grew to exceed all expectations.

Tadija Sondermajer received the National Order of Merit for the development of Yugoslav aviation, soon after Tadija Sondermajer was elected vice president of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale a position he kept from 1935 to 1946.

Tadija Sondermajer managed to organise for one last plane to transfer the Yugoslav government to Thessaloniki and Alexandria The bombing of Belgrade went on for three days.

The Germans authorities suspecting them of being Jewish however after finding out that Tadija Sondermajer's grandfather had been the Catholic bishop of Krakow they were let free.

Tadija Sondermajer's release was suspicious to the refugee government in London and they deprived him of his rank for alleged cooperation with the Germans; Later, after investigation via local agents, they returned his rank to him, this was broadcast via Radio London with an apology.

Tadija Sondermajer took part in the fight to liberate Belgrade on 15 October 1944 when he volunteered as a pilot.

In June 1947 he began working part-time for the construction enterprise Polet, Tadija Sondermajer lost property, income and friends and was never again allowed to fly or have any contact with aviation.

Tadija Sondermajer married Milica Petrovic, daughter of Brigadier General Dr Mihailo Petrovic, professor at the Faculty of Medicine and president of the Serbian Medical Association.

Dr Petrovic was head of the Surgery Department within the framework of Belgrade Military Hospital from 1921 to 1941 just like Tadija Sondermajer had been from 1889 to 1910.

The Tadija Sondermajer's first son Stanislav was born in 1924, their second Mihailo was born in 1928, both sons joined the resistance fighting the German occupants during the war.

Tadija Sondermajer died in Belgrade several months later, on October 10,1967.

On 17 June 2017, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the founding of Aeroput, a bust of Tadija Sondermajer was unveiled in the city park, on the corners of Palmoticeva and Koste Stojanovica streets in Belgrade, by the representatives of the institutions which supported the project realization: the deputy mayor of Belgrade Andreja Mladenovic, the manager of the Directorate of the Civil Aviation Mirjana Cizmarov and the director of Air Serbia Dane Kondic.

An exhibition called "Tadija Sondermajer - born Polish, but with a Serbian heart" took place at the Jadar Museum in Loznica in December 2017.

Tadija Sondermajer was decorated with the highest Serbian, Yugoslav and French decorations:.