Jan Kašpar

Jan Kašpar (20 May 1883 – 2 March 1927) was a Czech aviator, aircraft constructor, designer and engineer.

[2] His passion for aviation forced him to leave the company where, together with his cousin Evžen Čihák, he devoted himself solely to aircraft construction.

His first attempts to construct a monoplane were inspired by the model Antoinette by the French designer Hubert Latham.

In January 1910, French pilot Gaubert flew over the aerodrome in the Velká Chuchle district of Prague.

German aviator Otto Hieronimus, the chief engineer at Laurin & Klement, undertook his flight two weeks before Kašpar.

[5] Kašpar later donated the aircraft which he had flown for that historical flight to the National Technical Museum in Prague where it remains today.

In 1927, impoverished and suffering from mental illness, Jan Kašpar committed suicide in Pardubice.