Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi

Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi was a legendary Ottoman aviator of 17th-century Istanbul, purported in the writings of traveler Evliya Çelebi to have achieved sustained unpowered flight.

Alleged flight

The 17th century writings of Evliyâ Çelebi relate this story of Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi, circa 1630–1632:

The title "Hezârfen" (Persian: هزار‎‎, hazār + Arabic: فنّ‎, fann) given by Evliyâ Çelebi to Ahmet Çelebi, means "a thousand sciences" (polymath).

Single report

In 1648, John Wilkins cites Busbecq, the Austrian ambassador to Constantinople in 1554–1562, as recording that "a Turk in Constantinople" attempted to fly. However, if accurate, this citation refers to an event nearly a century prior to the exploits reported by Evliyâ Çelebi.

Evliyâ Çelebi's account of the exploits of Hezârfen Ahmet Çelebi is only three sentences long (of a ten volume work), but the story has great currency in Turkey. Other than Evliyâ Çelebi's report, there are no other contemporary references to the event.