Tadija Sondermajer

Tadija Sondermajer
File:Aviator Tadija Sondermajer 1932.jpg Tadija Sondermayer
Born	Tadeus Sondermajer (1892-02-19)February 19, 1892 Belgrade, Kingdom of Serbia
Died	October 10, 1967(1967-10-10) Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia
Nationality	Serbian
Alma mater	University of Belgrade
Occupation	aviator, aviation engineer
Known for	WWI fighter pilot Intercontinental flight Paris Belgrade Bombay (1927) Founder of Aeroput
Spouse(s)	Milica Petrović
Parent(s)	Roman Sondermajer Stanislava Đurić
Military career
Allegiance	Kingdom of Serbia France Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Years of service	1912–1913, 1914–1918
Rank	Colonel (JKRV)
Awards	Order of the Star of Karageorge Order of St. Sava Légion d'honneur (France) Croix de guerre (France) Silver Medal for Bravery Gold Medal for Bravery Albanian Commemorative

Tadija Sondermajer (Serbian Cyrillic: Тадија Сондермајер) (Belgrade 1892 - Belgrade 1967) was an Serbian aeronautical engineer, a decorated fighter pilot during WWI, fighting on both Eastern and Western Front, who notably fought against the Red Baron; after the great war he became a Yugoslav aviator flying a record transcontinental flight from Paris to Bombay before founding the country first airline Aeroput.

Early life

Tadija Sondermajer was born on February 19, 1892 in Belgrade; his father, Colonel Dr Roman Sondermajer was of German-Polish origin orginally from Krakow, he was the director of the Belgrade Military Hospital then of the Serbian Military Medical Service, he is considered the founder of Serbian war surgery; Tadija's mother Stanislava Đurić Sondermajer was the daughter of General Dimitrije Đurić and granddaughter of Minister of Education Dimitrije Matić, she was vice president of the Circle of Serbian Sisters.Tadja had three siblings: Vladimir, Stanislav "Staško" and sister Jadviga, even tough their father remained a Catholic, all the children were baptised Orthodox.

Sondermajer was educated at a local school before going to Gymnasium (secondary school) where he proved to be a good student, He graduated from the Second Belgrade High School in 1910. He had plan to pursue a professional career in architecture and after graduation left the country to enter a German university.

War

In October 1912 when the First Balkan War broke out and Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, and Bulgaria raised against the Ottoman Empire, twenty years old Tadja Sondermajer leaves his studies in Germany and immediately rush home enlisting in the Serbian cavalry as volunteer. After participating in the second Balkan Wars against Bulgaria in 1913, he is awarded the Silver medal for courage and is promoted to second Lieutenant of Cavalry.

In the Summer of 1914, Austro-Hungarian troops invade the Kingdom of Serbia, Tadija Sondermajer joined the 4th Cavalry Regiment under Lieutenant Colonel Petar Zivkovič, despite heavy loss on both sides, the Serbian army managed to repulse three successive Austro-Hungarian attempted invasions of the country; in 1915 he is promoted to lieutenant and decorated with the gold medal for courage.

After two humiliating defeats suffered by Austro-Hungarian troops, Germany took over command over the campaign against Serbia, on October 7 1915 German forces attack from the north towards the Morava river, Austro-Hungarian attack across the Drina from the west and Bulgaria who had secretly joined the Central Powers enter the Vardar valley from the east cutting off vital southward route of retreat for Serbian troops. The Serbian government and armed force still refused to surrender. The Sondermajers crossed the snowy Albanian mountains in the arduous winter retreat with the rest of the Serbian army and a substantial number of civilians; they settled on the Greek island of Corfu in early 1916.

On Corfu Tadija and Vladimir enter the air force as observer on scouting missions over the Eastern Front, completing after several months course a reconnaissance course at Salonika on June 22, 1916. Tadija is then assigned to MF 82 squadron based at the airfield base of Vertekop on August 6 1916 to support the Allied offensive. Reconnaissance scouts were used to undertake long-range reconnaissance operations to track enemy troop movements; tactical support via observation was enhanced by the development of the clock code system of directing artillery fire, which mapped and corrected the fall of shot.

During the summer of 1917 Sondermayer entered and completed pilot training at the 403th Aviation Park and Training Centre of Sedes Air Base near Salonika. On one occasion he succeeded in forcing a superior enemy aircraft to escape, for which he received praise from Field Marshal Stepa Stepanović. In November 1917, Lieutenant Tadia Sondermayer, ill from malaria is sent to hospital in France.

Escadrille des Cigognes

File:FrenchelitefightersunitSPA1918.jpg

Tadja Sondermajer (first from right) with other officers of Groupe de Combat 12. René Fonck is seated on the ground.

Instead of the planned three, Sondermajer spent only one month in the hospital and joined the Advanced flying school in Pau to learn acrobatics and aviation-sharpshooting, his brother Vladimir joins him a few months later. Tadija finishes best in class and is immediately recruited to join a French fighting squadron on the western front while his brother heads back to the Salonika front.

On March 1, 1918, Tadja Sondermajer is admitted to the French elite fighter squadron (GC 12) 'Les Cigognes' ('The Storks') under legendary commanding officer René Fonck, as one of the 60 best fighter pilots, he is selected to join the group in charge of the hardest combat missions on the Western front during the battle of the Marne.

On his return from a second flight on May 21, Sondermajer survived the collapse of his plane but got severely burned, after treatment and demobilization, he enrolled at the Aeronautics School in Paris receiving a degree in airplane engineering.

For his service France awarded him her highest order: the Legion of Honour as well as the Croix de Guerre (War Cross) awarded to those who distinguish themselves by acts of heroism, prince Alexander Karageorgevich awarded him the Knight Cross medal of honour.

Between the wars

Belgrade Aero Club

As the first Yugoslavian aviation engineer Tadija Sondermajer started immediately getting involved in the development of military, civilian and sports aviation. In May 1922 he founded the first non-profit flying sport club, the Belgrade Aero Club, of which he is elected vice president (the president being Prince Paul Karageorgevich)

An Army Aviation Department was formed with Serbian personnel and also ex-Austro-Hungarian (Croatian and Slovenian). Sondermajer is asked to launch a major initiative to replace World War I era aircraft still in service with more modern ones.

At a meeting of the Aero Club, on June 1926, Tadija and other members got into an argument with Milos Crnjanski about the type of planes that the national airline should purchase. General, Dusan Simovic, suggested that the planes were purchased from France, since the principle agreement was to take planes from allies but Crnjanski claimed that German planes were significantly better In order to bring the dispute to a conclusion, Crnjanski slapped the officers in attendance across their faces with white gloves challenging them to a duel. Sondermajer accepted the chance to defend his honour. The duel was scheduled to take place on 26th September 1926 in the vicinity of Vršac. The battle was fought gentlemanly, with minutes taken and in the presence of seconds (Crnjanski was represented by director Branko Gavela and writer Dušan Matić), with trophy weapons borrowed especially for the occasion from the Dunđerski family. The first shot was fired by Crnjanski and, as expected, missed the target. Sources, however, disagree on how the duel ended. According to some, Sondermajer aimed at Crnjanski for a short time, then lowered his gun and said in French: “I give up, you are forgiven”. At Crnjaski’s passionate insistence that the duel continue, Sondermajer shot into the air and departed. Both duellers survived, preserved their honour and amazingly renewed their friendship.

Aeroput

In 1927 Tadija Sondermajer created the first civil aviation company in Yugoslavia: "Aeroput" at the time one of only ten airlines in the world; however right from the start the company’s activities were halted by lack of funding. In order to collect shareholders Sondermajer decided to organise for a record transcontinental flight and show everyone the skills and abilities of Yugoslav pilots and therefore spur interest in investment in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia′s first civilian airline.

Flight Paris - Bombay

Tadija and Russian born Leonid Bajdak chose to fly Paris to Bombay to Belgrade aboard a French biplane Potez 25. Sondermajer’s suggestion was still immensely bold, because nobody had flown such a demanding route before across endless uninhabited ranges of the Middle East and southwest Asia. Tadija and Leonid set off on their adventure leaving Paris on 20th April 1927. The strong winds and desert storms steered them off their course several times but after 14,800-kilometer (9,191-mile) kilometres, 14 stages and 11 days of flight, Bajdak and Sondermajer finally landed back in Belgrade’s Bezanija airport having completed Paris-Belgrade-Aleppo-Basra-Jask-Karachi-Bombay-Karachi-Jask-Basra-Aleppo-Belgrade.They were greeted by 30 000 people,

The historic flight made Tadija Sondermajer famous and rescued his company Aeroput from bankrupcy; he served as vice-president of the International Air Force Federation for 11 years. Aeroput shares grew to exceed all expectations. As many as 412 shareholders gathered the required capital of six million dinars, and Aeroput purchased four aircraft. The first promotional flight was conducted between Belgrade and Zagreb on 15th February 1928. The Potez 29/2 type aircraft, under the name “Beograd”, took to the skies at 9am, under the command of company director Tadija Sondermajer and Vladimir Striževski. The first passengers were journalists. Aeroput became a successful airline company that connected the Kingdom of Yugoslavia with the rest of the world. Sondermajer received the National Order of Merit for the development of Yugoslav aviation.

After the war

As reserve colonel he was appointed commander of the transport group (JKRV); in April 1941 the German bombing of Belgrade destroyed completely the Zemun airport and all its aircrafts.

During the German military administration of Belgrade, Tadija was quickly arrested and sent to jail. The germans suspected him of being a Jew, after finding out that his grandfather was the bishop of Krakovo he was released. His release was suspicious to the governement in exile but after investigating they cleared him of any wrongdoings. In 1944 he participated in the battles for the liberation of Belgrade.

When the Communists came to power, members of the bourgeoisie, the aristocracy and many others were imprisoned and sentenced to death or hard labour, the authorities did not forgive Tadija his closeness with the Royal Court and he was arrested, stripped of his rights and sentenced to death.

His wife Milica started campagining for his release, old friends now turned communist members refused to receive her, however after a year she managed to reach Aleksandar Rankovic who had a favour to returned and Tadija was released from prison with his civil rights returned to him; however he was not allowed to fly. He got a job at the construction company Polet where he stayed for the rest of his active life.

He died on October 10 1967.

Awards and decorations

Tadija Sondermayer was decorated with the greatest Serbian, Yugoslav and French decorations:

Order of the Star of Karageorge

Order of St. Sava

Légion d'honneur (France)

Croix de guerre (France)

Silver Medal for Bravery

Gold Medal for Bravery

First Balkan War

Second Balkan War

Albanian Commemorative Medal

See also

• Mikic Sava J. , History of Yugoslav Aviation, 1933, Printing House Drag. Gregorić, Belgrade
• Janic Cedomir, Petrovic, Ognjan, Aviation Age in Serbia 1910-2010, 225 significant aircraft, 2010, Aerocommunications, Belgrade, ISBN 978-86-913973-0-2
• Ostric Sime, Janicijevic Dušan-urednik, Russians without Russia - Serbian Russians, 1994, Vienna Effect, Belgrade - Beocin, ISBN 86-82465-02-7
• Janic Cedomir, Simsic, Jovo, More Than Flying - Eight Decades of Aeroput and JAT, 2007, JAT Airways, Belgrade, ISBN 978-86-7086-004-9
• Radmila Tonkovic, Tadija Sondermajer, 2010, AI, Belgrade
• Krunic, Cedomir; (2010), Civil Aviation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia First Book, Belgrade, Author's Edition, ISBN 978-86-901623-3-8.
• Krunic, Cedomir; (2013), Civil Aviation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia Second Book, Belgrade, Author's Edition, ISBN 978-86-901623-4-5.
• Dimitrijevic, Bojan; P. Miladinović, M. Micevski; (2012). Royal Air Force - Air Force of the Kingdom of SHS / Yugoslavia 1918-1944. Belgrade: Institute for Contemporary History. ISBN 978-86-7403-169-8.