Edvard Rusjan

Edvard Rusjan was a Slovenian aviation pioneer from the Austro-Hungarian Empire who designed, built and flew some of the earliest aircraft in the region. Born in Trieste in 1886, he began as a bicycle manufacturer before turning to aviation, making his first flight near Gorizia on 25 November 1909 in a biplane of his own design, the Eda I. He built further aircraft and later worked on larger projects in Zagreb. He died on 9 January 1911 in Belgrade when strong winds broke his aircraft's wing during a promotional flight; an estimated 14,000 people attended his funeral. An airport, an asteroid and a business center in Nova Gorica are named after him.