Dragutin Novak
Croatian aviator (1892–1978)
Dragutin Karlo Novak (16 February 1892 – 31 October 1978) was the first person in what is now Croatia to make a heavier-than-air flight by flying a plane constructed by Slavoljub Eduard Penkala on 22 June 1910.
Novak flew in an airplane made by constructor Slavoljub Penkala from the military training-field in Črnomerec, Zagreb. Later, during one of Novak's flying achievements, on 20 October 1910, the airplane was damaged, and Penkala gave up on aircraft design.
Childhood and youth
Novak was born in Zagreb, in Ilica 19 street. During his youth, his parents died so his aunt cared for him, "harmonizing" his life. He attended elementary school in Zagreb, then went to convent school in Tropava (Silesia). He then continued in mechanical trade, specializing in precision mechanics in 1909. In 1910, he left Zagreb and went to his sister in Budapest, where he was successful in an airplane competition. Shortly afterwards, he returned Zagreb and took employment in the business of Slavoljub Penkala, who was engaged in the construction of airplanes, becoming his right hand in manufacturing and proving the flight characteristics until the first flight in Croatia. He worked there until Penkala’s decision to abandon further work on airplanes.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 13, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q5305522. VIAF identifies the subject as 45111432. The Library of Congress control number is n96052845. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1892, 1978, 1910 and 1909.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dragutin Novak” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.