Mihajlo Petrović
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mihaljo Petrović | |
|---|---|
| June 14, 1884, – March 7, 1913 (age 29) | |
 Mihajlo Petrović |
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| Place of birth | .svg/22px-Flag_of_Serbia_(1882-1918).svg.png){kind=small} Vlakca, Serbia |
| Place of death |  Babalushi, Albania |
| Allegiance | Kingdom of Serbia |
| Years of service | 1903 – 1913 |
| Rank | Sergeant |
| Battles/wars | The siege of Shkodër |
Mihajlo Petrović,[1] was the first trained Serbian aircraft pilot. He completed his training and exams at the famous Farman pilot school in France and was awarded the international FAI license #979 in June 1912. His Serbian pilot's license carried the number 1.
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[edit] Early life
Mihajlo Petrović, is born on June 14, 1884, in a small village called Vlakca, near the town of Kragujevac in central Serbia. A bright child, he goes through elementary school in his native village with exemplary success. After that, all his family could afford was to send him to the Military Crafts School in nearby Kragujevac, which was already renown throughout Europe for its Artillery Works. For our adventurous boy Mihajlo, this was quite satisfactory - providing his first step into the great world outside, independence and a chance to learn about the Army.
Five years later, in 1902, even Kragujevac has grown too small for a now restless young man Mihajlo. Even though he was quite successful in his studies, he decides to leave military crafts and seek further education abroad. By tradition, he turns to Russia and sets off on the long journey North. As was the custom of that time for all foreign would-be students, he is held up in a small border town, learning the Russian language for several months. With this delay, he didn't reach St.Petersburg until November, when it was too late to enroll in any of the academies. So he spends the harsh Russian winter looking for some kind of work, during a troubled time when jobs were really hard to find. After recuperating from a long illness, our disenchanted Mihajlo decides to return to Serbia.
He is back in Kragujevac in time to enroll for Artillery NCO Training in 1903. After two years of this school, in 1905, 21 year old corporal Mihajlo Petrović enlists in the Guards Artillery regiment in Niš, the second largest Serbian city after the capital, Belgrade.
[edit] Army career
It seems that our young hero is now set on a fairly straightforward military career. He moves between several garrisons, from Niš to Kragujevac, and on to Belgrade. He receives his sergeant's stripes in 1910. However, by all accounts, he is also an artist at heart - a poet and a painter. The taste for adventure has never left him, and he keeps hearing about a new breed of heroes - the aviators.
When the Serbian Army calls for volunteers for a new Air Corps in 1912, Mihajlo does not hesitate a single instant. He passes all the necessary exams and medical tests with flying colors, and his dreams finally come true when he becomes one of the first group of six candidates selected for flight training in France.
This time there are no delays. Immediately upon the group's arrival in France, Mihajlo is enlisted in the Farman school in Étampes, where training began during the last week of May 1912. Meeting Mihajlo and seeing his first few training flights, the famous French pilot Broden was forced to comment that "... he is sure to become an ace. He is so calm, as if he despises death!".
After only twenty days of training, Mihajlo is the first one in his group to advance to solo flying. This event seems to have drawn considerable public attention. One of the onlookers, a reporter from Le Figaro, was so impressed by Mihajlo's performance that he wrote a long article, complete with photograph, commending "the fearless and admirable Serb sergeant".
Mihajlo completed all the necessary courses by the end of June, and he was ready for his flying exams. He passes them on June 22 and 23, becoming the first Serbian pilot with a diploma - a pilot's license. The fact that he received his license a full month ahead of the other members of his group confirms his extraordinary talent.
By the time Mihajlo and his fellow pilots returned to Serbia, the First Balkan War had broken out. Events were speeding up - a location for the first military airfield had been selected in the vicinity of Niš (Trupalsko polje) and a total of 12 aircraft, Bleriot monoplanes and Farman biplanes, arrived from France. Mihajlo's Farman HF20 was although the same make as the airplane he flew in France assembled by the end of December 1912, this machine was a different model with different handling qualities, so Mihajlo spent the next month in flight tests and training. His first combat assignment came through in February, in the newly formed Coastal Airplane Squad that was to provide air support for the troops laying siege to Shkodër, in northern Albania.
[edit] Actions and death
After an exhausting journey across the Albanian mountain ranges, the squad reached its destination in the small village of Babalushi, where a site for the airfield had been selected. After assembling the aircraft they had brought with them, they planned their first test flights for March 7. The morning weather seemed calm and clear. A crowd of spectators, mainly officers from army units stationed nearby, gathered to watch the flying machines in action. The first few flights passed without a hitch. Then came the shock, best described by excerpts from the squad log book:
[edit] March 7, 1913 - calm and warm
Engine test runs today. Lt. Jugović flew the Farman for 12min. and landed well. Lt. Stanković flew the Bleriot for 25min. and landed well. At 9:25, Sgt. Mihajlo Petrović flew the Farman over our positions on Meglushi and Bushati at an altitude of 1500m. At 9:45, after cutting the engine and starting his landing approach, he met with a heavy thermal gust. His aircraft stalled, then pitched downward. He was thrown off from a height of 900 to 1000m and killed. The machine is badly damaged.
[edit] March 8, 1913
Buried Sgt. Petrović this afternoon in Barbalushi. The men are in good health, but their morale is extremely low, due to the death of Sgt. Petrović.
Following the end of the Balkan Wars, Sgt. Petrovic's remains were moved, and buried with highest military honors in the cemetery at Cetinje, the capital of Montenegro. They rested there until 1931, when they were moved to Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, at his family's request.
