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For millennia, mankind has never ceased to be fascinated by the flight of birds: and although human beings are not equipped with a pair of wings, flying autonomously, without any means of transport, remains one of the greatest ambitions that exist.
There are numerous stories and legends regarding those short flights made by ordinary mortals, the outcome of which was often disastrous due to the desire to go further, ever higher. Just think of Icarus, who flew too close to the Sun causing his wings to melt, or even of Bellerophon, who pushed Pegasus too high, towards Olympus, trying to become a god: his ambition was punished with a disastrous fall to the mortal world.
But there are some stories more curious than others, reported by travelers and which have become part of the collective imagination: valiant scientists who experienced firsthand the thrill of flying without any machine, transported only by the air… Or, in some cases, even from rudimentary rockets! Hundreds of years before the Wright brothers’ first flight, they became the protagonists of one-of-a-kind stories that have become legendary.
Hezârfen Ahmet Çelebi and Lagari Hasan Çelebi
There are numerous stories in Turkey about the siblings Hezârfen Ahmet Çelebi and Lagari Hasan Çelebi. Inventors and engineers, they became protagonists of two spectacular flights, one more curious than the other. The former, as told by the traveler Evliya Çelebi, attempted to fly without any help by throwing himself with “eagle wings” from one of the main symbols of Turkey: the Galata Tower.
As mentioned in the traveler’s writings, “while Sultan Murad Khan watched from the Sinan Pasha palace in Sarayburnu, he flew from the top of the Galata Tower and landed at Doğancılar Square in Üsküdar, with the help of the wind coming from the southeast.” The inventor then crossed the Bosphorus in flight, covering about 3.5 km.
The story of Hezârfen Ahmet Çelebi would seem to have ended, however, with exile: Evliya Çelebi relates that “Murad Khan granted him a lot of gold coins and said: ‘This is a fearful man. He is capable of doing anything he wants. It is not right to keep these people”, and therefore he sent him into exile to Algeria”, where the inventor died.
Sultan Murad IV was fortunate enough to witness another astonishing feat, accomplished by Ahmet’s brother, Lagari Hasan Çelebi. Evliya Çelebi also tells how this other inventor also took flight… With a rocket! Hasan built it using a sort of metal cage and fed it with explosive powder.
Having taken the flight to celebrate the birth of the sultan’s daughter, he said to the padishah, according to the stories of Evliya Çelebi “be blessed, I am going to talk to the prophet Jesus!”. Having risen to around 300 metres, he then threw himself from the rudimentary means of transport, using a parachute. Hasan’s story ended better than that of his brother; returning to the presence of the ruler, he announced “O my sultan! The prophet Jesus sends you his greetings!”: he was rewarded with a high military rank and riches.
The wings of Abbas ibn Firnas
Even before the Turkish brothers Hezârfen Ahmet Çelebi and Lagari Hasan Çelebi and a thousand years before the Wright brothers, during the Islamic domination of Spain, Abbas ibn Firnas lived in Cordoba. Famous scientist and astronomer, after whom a lunar crater is even named, he decided to experience the thrill of flight firsthand, at the no longer young age of 65.
In fact, he built a sort of flying machine which actually allowed him to take flight: however, he miscalculated the tail of the device. For this reason, he remained in the air for a few minutes, before falling disastrously to the ground, causing himself some injuries and the eternal memory of being one of the very first aviators in history, if not the first.
Even before 1903, therefore, there were several brilliant minds who attempted to change human nature, with the hope of giving man wings. A goal which mankind continue to tend even now, with more modern means: one of the deepest dreams in the human soul, a symbol of absolute freedom, of an almost unattainable, divine power.
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