Tadija Sondermajer
Tadija R. Sondermajer (Serbian Cyrillic: Тадија Сондермајер; 19 February 1892 – 10 October 1967) was a Serbian aviator, aeronautical engineer and a pioneer of Yugoslav aviation. During World War I Sondermajer was the only fighter plane pilot from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia to get selected to join Les Cigognes (The Storks), the elite French Air Force unit, fighting on the Western Front, most notably against the German squadron of the Red Baron. After the war he completed a record Paris-Bombay-Paris intercontinental flight, less than a month before Lindbergh's flight from New York to Paris. In 1927 Sondermajer founded Aeroput the first civil aviation company in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Between the wars he was promoted to colonel in the Royal Yugoslav Air Force Reserve. Sondermajer received the highest Serbian, Yugoslav and French decorations for his war service and numerous peacetime decorations such as the Order of Karađorđe, the Gold Medal for Courage, and the French Legion of Honour. Early life Tadija Sondermajer was born on 19 February 1892 in Belgrade; his father, Colonel Dr Roman Sondermajer was of German-Polish origin originally from Kraków, he was the director of the Belgrade Military Hospital and of the Serbian Military Medical Service, Roman Sondermajer 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. Sondermajer had three siblings: Vladimir, Stanislav "Staško" and sister Jadviga. Although 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 planned to pursue a professional career in architecture and after graduation left the country for the Faculty of Technology in Heidelberg. World War I Lieutenant of Cavalry In October 1912 when the First Balkan War broke out and Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, and Bulgaria raised against the Ottoman Empire, twenty years old Tadija Sondermajer left his studies in Germany and immediately rushed back home enlisting in the Serbian cavalry as a volunteer. After participating in the second Balkan Wars against Bulgaria in 1913, he was awarded the Silver medal for courage and promoted to Second Lieutenant of Cavalry. In the Summer of 1914, Austro-Hungarian troops invaded 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; When Belgrade was liberated after twelve days of occupation on 15 December 1914, Tadija led a cavalry patrol that first entered the city escorting King Peter to church. In 1915 Tadija Sondermajer is promoted Lieutenant and decorated with the gold medal for courage. After two humiliating defeats suffered by Austro-Hungarian troops, Germany took over command of the campaign against Serbia. On 7 October 1915, German