Jurgis Dobkevičius

Jurgis Dobkevičius (born March 23, 1900 in Saint Petersburg, died testing his own construction airplane Dobi-III in a crash June 8, 1926 in Kaunas) was a Lithuanian aviator and aircraft designer

Military biography

Dobkevičius was a volunteer of Lithuanian Army and first officially recognised military pilot of Lithuanian Air Force, Commander of Air Squadron in 1920. He's known for outstanding memory—contemporary sources say, that he at the dinner table played one or two games of chess with any opponent without a board. Dobkevičius participated as reconnaissance pilot in Lithuanian-Polish War, completing 24 combat missions. After retiring from military service in 1923, Dobkevičius has studied at L'Ecole Superieure d'Aeronautique in Paris, graduating in 1925 and becoming first professional Lithuanian aircraft designer. Dobkevičius has designed a line of aircraft Dobi: Dobi-I, Dobi-II and the fatal variant, Dobi-III.

Jurgis Dobkevičius was buried in Panemunė Cemetery.

References

List of minor planets: 21001–22000

Dobi-I

Dobi-I is a plane designed by Lithuanian aviator Jurgis Dobkevičius and the first airplane of Lithuanian design. Jurgis Dobkevičius started designing and building Dobi-I in 1921, and it was first tested by its designer in July 1922. Soon new models Dobi-II, and Dobi-III followed. The single Dobi-I prototype was damaged in an accident beyond repair on 1 December 1925.

See also

References