Jan Kašpar - Pardubice, Czech Republic - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com

The over-life size bronze statue of a CZech aviation pioneer, Jan Kašpar (1883 – 1927) was unveiled in his hometown Pardubice, on December 28, 2016. The statue was installed at the western edge of main city shopping street, Trída Míru.Jan Kašpar is depicted here wearing high boots, trousers and sweater. He has a hat on his head and in his left hand he holds quite long airplane propeller. There is about 6 meters long metal time-axis with marked important dates of his life in the pavement in front of the statue. The author of the statue is František Bálek.

Biography

Jan Kašpar was born in 1883 in the East Bohemian town of Pardubice. From his early childhood he was an active sportsman: he was keen on cycling and horse riding. After finishing secondary school in Pardubice, he went on to study at Prague's Technical University. After graduating, he left for Germany to further his education. He studied engine construction and later worked in a factory producing parts for the Zeppelin airships. Young Kašpar was a big technology fan: he rode a motorcycle and promoted motor sports in his hometown. He was also interested in motorboats and took part in a series of car races, mainly abroad.

Jan Kašpar admired Zeppelin's airships but he was keen on the idea of constructing his own aircraft propelled by a combustion engine. He saw the famous Louis Bleriot - the first man to fly across the English Channel - take off from a Vienna airfield. Jan Kašpar was enchanted - he wanted to fly too. He gave up the career of a racing driver, returned to his native town and started working on a Czech aircraft - a simple monoplane. Kašpar made a number of attempts to take off - some of them ended in disaster and nearly cost him his life.

His first success was a two-kilometre flight over fields near Pardubice on April 16, 1910. Later, Kašpar ordered a Bleriot plane from Paris. It was a one-seat single-engine monoplane, and Kašpar fitted it with a liquid-cooled four-cylinder Daimler engine. On May 13, 1911, at six a.m., the 28-year old Kašpar took off for his first long-distance flight from Pardubice to Prague. The flight was an undeniable success. Jan Kašpar covered the distance of 120 kilometres from Pardubice to Prague in 1 hour and 32 minutes, at an average speed of 80 kilometres per hour. At that time, it was the longest flight carried out in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Kašpar landed on a racecourse in Chuchle, south of Prague, where crowds welcomed him as a hero.

Kašpar's historic Bleriot aeroplane is now on display at the National Technical Museum in Prague. Since 1991, Jan Kašpar's hometown pays annual tribute to the legendary aviator - on the anniversary of his flight to Prague, a Flying Fair takes place in Pardubice to commemorate the 1911 historic flight of the famous aviation pioneer.

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