Bedriye Tahir Gökmen

Bedriye Tahir Gökmen was an aviator from Turkey. She was the first Turkish woman to earn a pilot license.^[1]

Bedriye Tahir in 1933

Life

Tahir trained at the Vecihi Hürkuş Private Flying School and earned her license in 1933.^[1] However, her employer did not approve of her flying, and reduced her salary as a punishment. Nevertheless, she graduated from the flight school in 1934, and applied to the Undersecretary of the Air Force to get her license confirmed. The office sent a team of inspectors to the school; however, due to an accident, the school did not have any aircraft available for Tahir to use to demonstrate her skills.^[2] The team did not return, and the school closed later the same year.^[3]

A Turkish parachutist, Abdurrahman Türkkuşu, gave her the nickname Gökmen Bacı ("Sister of the Blue Skies").^[2] In 1934, when the Turkish Surname Law was introduced, she took the surname Gökmen.^[3]

See also

• Sabiha Gökçen
• Ahmet Ali Çelikten
• Mehmet Fesa Evrensev