On the wings of a large butterfly: Neptis lucilla

To mark one hundred years since the maiden flight of the first Croatian aircraft, built by engineer Eduard Slavoljub Penkala, an exhibition “On the wings of a large butterfly: Neptis lucilla” will be open at the Technical Museum until October 31^st.

An exhibition, “On the wings of a large butterfly: Neptis lucilla”, has been recently opened at the Technical Museum. Marking one hundred years since the maiden flight of the first Croatian aircraft, built by engineer Eduard Slavoljub Penkala. This fascinating exhibition will remain open to the public until October 31^st. To mark the occasion of this jubilee, there was also an air show and an open-air concert at the Sport Airport in Lučko, as well as an airplane race, held for the first time in Croatia. Visitors also had a unique opportunity to view numerous aircraft models and, among them, a replica of Penkala’s plane. Its construction was initiated by the club of aeronautical veterans, the Aeroklub Zagreb, and it was built by the skilled glider pilot and aircraft builder: Marijan Ivanček.

Eduard Slavoljub Penkala was one of the greatest inventors of the 20^th century. He was born in 1871 in Liptovský Mikuláš, in modern day Slovakia. When he finished his studies in Vienna and Dresden, he married and moved to Zagreb, where he died in 1922.

He is responsible for some 80 inventions in the fields of mechanics, chemistry, physics, and aeronautics; the peak of which is considered to be the construction of the first aircraft in Croatia. Penkala’s aircraft flew only seven years after the first Wright brothers’ plane in1903, and it was flown by the first Croatian pilot, Dragutin Novak. Since Penkala also built a hangar at the military training ground in Črnomerec, in which he constructed his plane, he is also responsible for opening the first airport in Croatia.

Apart from great success in aviation, Eduard Slavoljub Penkala also invented the first mechanical pen as well as the first solid ink fountain pen in the world. He patented the mechanical pen in 1906 and the solid ink fountain pen a year later. In cooperation with Edmund Moster, he built a factory to produce his pens, which was one of the biggest factories of writing implements in the world between 1912 and 1926. The factory exported its pencils and pens to more than seventy countries worldwide.