#9 Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi

Intercontinental Flight – 1630

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

According to the documents he probably flew from Europe to Asia in 1630. In Istanbul, the width of the Bosphorus Strait that separates the Asian from the European side is less than a mile in parts, so the intercontinental flight may not match that of flying from Paris to Beijing. Still, this was 1630 and in Western Europe the science of aeronautics, such as it was, had basically started and finished with Leonardo da Vinci a century earlier.

#8 Lagâri Hasan Çelebi

Rocket Flight – 1630s

Lagâri Hasan Çelebi was a legendary Ottoman aviator who, according to an account written by traveller Evliya Çelebi, made a successful manned rocket flight. Evliya Çelebi purported that in 1633, Lagari Hasan Çelebi launched in a 7-winged rocket using 50 okka (140 lbs) of gunpowder from Sarayburnu, the point below Topkapı Palace in Istanbul.

Lagâri Hasan Çelebi was brother of Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi. A year or two after Ahmed made his flight; Hasan took off for the heavens in a rocket.

We may tend to dismiss it as fanciful; there are a couple of points to consider. Firstly, gunpowder was apparently used to launch the rocket, which was a Chinese invention and was available for several centuries before this alleged rocket launch. And since the rocket was described to have wings, it might had abilities to glide which may have resulted in safe landing.

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