Rudolf Fizir

Rudolf Fizir was an aircraft constructor born in Ludbreg in northern Croatia in 1891 who died in 1960. As a senior student in 1914 he took his first job in Schwerin, building fighter aircraft at the new Fokker factory, and he was then sent to Budapest to organize a Fokker subsidiary. Between 1918 and 1920 he worked in the automobile industry and gained experience with internal combustion engines. He then returned to Ludbreg and later moved to Petrovaradin, where he built his own designs at his own expense. A biplane he built in 1925 won first prize in the 1927 Little Entente contest despite a weaker engine than its rivals. He designed at least 18 original aircraft, some floatplane conversions, and a parachute. Most of his designs were wooden and cheap to produce.