Assen "Jerry" Jordanoff (Bulgarian: Асен Христов Йорданов, born Asen Hristov Yordanov, September 2, 1896 - October 19, 1967) was a Bulgarian-American[1] inventor, engineer, and aviator.

Jordanoff is considered to be the founder of aeronautical engineering in Bulgaria, as well as a contributor to the development of aviation in the United States.

A local Bulgarian newspaper, dated February 16, 1912, published an article entitled 'First Bulgarian glider', which read: The exact date of the first flight is unclear, but after it, on February 5, the young flier made a second test flight in the presence of an official commission.

Young Asen was invited to take another trip to France by a rich couple from Rousse, who had no children, and to go with them on summer holiday to Paris.

In turn, Yordanov, above all, planned to find a means of admission to the well-known Blériot school in Étampes, knowing fully well the unlikelihood of a 16-year-old boy from then newly formed Bulgaria to gain admittance.

This was until he met the well-known Bulgarian aviator Lieutenant Simeon Petrov, who introduced him to Louis Blériot himself.

He wasn't officially enrolled and there was no diploma for him, but attending the famous flying school in the company of great aviators played a huge role in Yordanov's educational development.

Though never in any imminent danger, Asen Yordanov served his part during the war as car driver; most of his time he frequented the airplane hangars.

Colonel Radul Milkov would later recall: In the Aeroplanno Otdelenie division, Asen Yordanov gained expertise, he designed the first Bulgarian-made airplane, and it was built in the summer of 1915.

In May 1921 Asen Yordanov and his wartime friend, Alexander Stoyanov, read about a contest to fly around the world in 100 days.

Yordanov and his partner were fully supported by the then prime-minister Aleksandar Stamboliyski and were granted US$6,000 /participation fee-US$2500/ by the Bulgarian Ministry of War to participate in the initiative, and they traveled to the US.

Faced with the dilemma of knowing absolutely no English, Assen Jordanoff began his life in America shoveling snow in New York for small pay.

Having a job, he spent all his free time at the Public Library, studying English by himself or reading books and manuals on subjects such as aeronautics, machinery, and mechanics.

At that time he became known among his friends and colleagues as Jerry, rather than Assen, a familiar name that would stick with him for the rest of his life.

Having his English improved, Assen Jordanoff went on to take university courses in engineering, aeronautics, radio electronics, physics, and chemistry.

In aeronautics, the Jordanoff companies collaborated with such firms as Douglas, Chance-Vought, Lockheed, Curtiss-Wright, McDonnell, Boeing, North American, Consolidated, and Piper.

At the request of many, Jordanoff, as a designer and engineer within his own enterprise, compiled instruction books and manuals for the operation and maintenance, inspection and repair for some well-known aircraft such as the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, a very versatile aircraft used during World War II mainly as high-speed, high-altitude fighter, long-range escort fighter and photo reconnaissance plane; the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, America's foremost fighter in service when World War II began; the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the best long-range bombers in World War II; the Consolidated B-24 Liberator and the North American B-25 Mitchell bombers, and the Douglas DC-3 transport aircraft.

A very important activity was the preparation and the distribution of thousands of copies of descriptive books and practical manuals for aircraft.

In the 1940s Jordanoff was assigned the task by the United States Department of Defense to prepare instruction manuals for military aircraft, submarines and aircraft carriers, on topics like land support with radio equipment, air meteorology, theoretic and flight preparation of the pilots for diurnal and nocturnal piloting.

The world's first air bag, meant to ensure the safety of pilots and automobile drivers alike, was designed by Jordanoff in (1957).

It owned the patent issued for a field of two unidirectional no-cross runways, set end-to-end and elevated to slow-down planes that are landing and to speed-up those taking off.

[4] Assen Jordanoff died October 19, 1967, aged 71, in St. Angels Hospital in White Plains, New York.