57
Atatürk for whom she worked
to be worthy of all her life and
she vowed to live to follow his
footsteps. She was assigned as a
chief instructor at Türkkuşu which
was part of the Turkish Aviation
Association and until 1955, she
continued to work to light the way
for the youth towards a better
future imagined by Atatürk.
Sabiha Gökçen led a life full of
success stories and she was
able to squeeze in a marriage as
well. However, their happiness
with her colleague Kemal Esiner
whom she married in 1940 was
not to be long-lasting. Sabiha
Gökçen was devastated once
again when Esiner died 3 years
after their marriage during a
mission in Eastern Anatolia. She
did not marry again. Gökçen
was invited to America in 1953
and 1959 to represent Turkish
society and Turkish women
in a successful manner. In
1991, she was awarded the
International Aviation Federation
Gold Medal. Whereas in 1996,
she was the guest of honor for
a Meeting of Eagles in America
where she became one of the
20 pilots who made history and
the only woman among the
rest. In 1997, she was among
the founding members for the
Eagles Association which was
established for the casualties of
the Air Force. She made another
first in the world when she made
her final flight at the age of 83
with the accompaniment of
French pilot Daniel Acton in a
Falcon 2000. Another first for
the Sabiha Gökçen name was
the airport that was built in her
name in 2001. It was the first time
that an airport was named after
a woman. Her name continues
to echo all over the world
together with the Sabiha Gökçen
International Airport as well as
the successes she achieved
throughout her life.
In 2001, she died on the day
she was born, March 22, at
the Gülhane Military Medical
Academy where she was
under treatment. In her life that
spanned 88 years, she flew
8000 hours with 22 different
light bombardment and
acrobatics planes and received
many awards. Her name was
immortalized with the many
firsts in her life. She left behind
a generation that continues to
succeed in attaining new firsts
for Turkish women following her
footsteps.
her alanda başarılar elde
edebileceğinin kanıtı olarak
sürdürüyordu.
Elde ettiği askeri başarıların
sonucunda Gökçen artık
resmen “askeri” bir pilottu.
Türk Hava Kurumu tarafından,
1937 yılında Cumhurbaşkanı,
Başbakan ve Genelkurmay
Başkanı’nın da katıldığı bir
törende kendisine Murassa
(İftihar) Madalyası verildi. 30
Ağustos 1937’de ise askeri
uçuş brövesi almaya hak
kazandı. Sabiha Gökçen,
Atatürk’ün Türk kadını için
düşündüğü tüm gelişmelerin
ve gelecek nesiller hakkında
kurduğu hayallerin bir ispatıydı.
Bir yıl sonra Balkanlar’dan
aldığı davete Vultee-V
tipindeki uçağıyla katılarak
İstanbul, Atina, Selanik,
Sofya, Belgrad, Bükreş ve
İstanbul rotasını takip ettiği
5 günlük bir Balkan turuna
çıktı. Kısa süre içinde yalnızca
Türkiye’de değil tüm dünyada
“göklerin kızı” olarak anılmaya
başlamıştı Sabiha Gökçen.
