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