Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi

The 17th century writings of Evliyâ Çelebi relate this story of Hezârfen 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 (in contemporary Karaköy) 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, [3]

While modern historians disagree with Evliya Çelebi's narration of Hezarfen flying the entire Bosporus,[4] they state that the flight most likely was real, but heavily exaggerated, as Çelebi often exaggerates in his writings.[5][6]

Flight path, as described by Evliya Çelebi

The title "Hezârfen", given by Evliyâ Çelebi to Ahmet Çelebi, is from Persian هزار hezār + فنّ fann meaning "having a thousand sciences" (polymath).[1]

In 1648, John Wilkins cites Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, the Holy Roman ambassador to Constantinople in 1554–1562, as recording that "a Turk in Constantinople" attempted to fly.[7] However, if accurate, this citation refers to an event nearly a century prior to the exploits reported by Evliyâ Çelebi.

Evliyâ Çelebi's account of the exploits of Hezârfen Ahmet Çelebi is three sentences long (of a ten volume work). The story has great currency in Turkey as he is an inspiration for future generations of aviators.

• One of 4 airports in Istanbul is named the "Hezarfen Airfield".
• A mosque next to the Istanbul Atatürk Airport bears the appellation "Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi".
• A 1996 feature-length film, "Istanbul Beneath My Wings" (İstanbul Kanatlarımın Altında) concerns the lives of Hezârfen Ahmet Çelebi, his brother and rocket aviator Lagari Hasan Çelebi, and Ottoman society in the early 17th century, as witnessed and narrated by Evliyâ Çelebi.