Alexander Svachulay

* Košice, June 3, 1875 – † Budapest, August 25, 1954 / aircraft designer, professional writer ; ; He completed wood and metalworking and foreman courses in Budapest and opened his own locksmith workshop in 1898. At that time, he was already interested in the problem of human flight, and that same year he even made a glider that could be strapped to a person. After the failure of this, he built several airplane and helicopter models, which proved to be capable of flying – partly with air engine propulsion. In 1907, he exhibited his first large-scale, pioneeringly welded, steel tube-built flying structure in the Royal Hotel’s great hall. He felt that all that was missing was a suitable engine to fly his plane. He soon found a patron in the person of Dr. Ganz Fabris, a wealthy Munich aeronaut, who liked Svachulay's light, steel-tubed machine and undertook to provide the engine and finishing in Bavaria. The work and experimental machine constructions there and in Austria lasted until 1909. The first machine was the "Kolibri I" amphibious aircraft - with retractable landing gear, a solution that later spread throughout the world. The "Kolibri I" was bought by the army, and they began building a larger boat-shaped aircraft, the "Albatros I". With the new machine, Svachulay returned home to Budapest in June 1910 for the international flying competition. Here, having rebuilt his machine several times, several pilots unsuccessfully tried to fly it, until finally the following year István Dobos successfully brought the "Albatros III" type of machine to success and began its national demonstration tour. In 1912–1913, these demonstrations brought fame and partly financial success, which also encouraged the construction of a new aircraft. The new aircraft type, which followed the gull-wing design, the small "Kolibri III" with a 6-meter wingspan and a 35-horsepower (25.6 kW) engine, was so fast that Dobos won all significant numbers in the 1913 St. Stephen's Day flying competition. During World War I, Svachulay was assigned to the Albertfalva aircraft factory, where he directed the aircraft construction work. In 1934, encouraged by the successes of gliders, Svachulay built two light (approximately 60 kg in weight) small gliders, the "Szent György I" and "Szent György II" types, with which experimental glider flights were also carried out. From 1938 he was employed by the Hungarian Aero Association as the head and instructor of the central modeling workshop. He worked there until his retirement. After 1945 he returned to service with the successor organizations and was given the opportunity to build such a human muscle aircraft after decades of model experiments with his flapping-winged aircraft. These experiments dragged on for years, and during the several moves his valuable experimental models were destroyed. Until his death he tried to carry out his ideas in the Hungarian Aero Association. In addition to his pioneering designs, Sándor Svachulay is credited with the first solutions to several important technical problems: such as the adjustable metal propeller and the device that reduces the landing speed of aircraft. ; ; Main works: ; A téretsze aviatikusai, 1940, ; Repülőéletem, 1942.