Nuri Demirağ
Turkey’s first private aircraft factory, founded by a railway millionaire who wanted a Turkish design rather than a licence copy, and undone by a single fatal accident.
Nuri Demirağ: the company and the aircraft that made its name
The man called Iron Web
Nuri Demirağ made his first fortune with a cigarette-paper factory in 1922, then invested in Turkey’s railways. When the Surname Law came in in 1934, Atatürk gave him the name Demirağ, meaning iron web. In 1936, among the richest men in the country, he set out to build aircraft, arguing that buying foreign licences only meant copying outdated designs, and that Turkey needed a new Turkish type of its own.
A factory on the Bosphorus
His factory in Beşiktaş, Istanbul, beside the present naval museum, employed 500 people. Engineer Selahattin Reşit Alan designed the Nu.D.36 two-seat trainer and the Nu.D.38 twin-engined light transport. Demirağ also bought land at Yeşilköy for an airfield and opened the Gök Okulu flying school, which trained 290 pilots by 1943. He also opened a Gök middle school in his home town of Divriği, paying pupils’ costs and bringing them to Istanbul for flying lessons, and in 1939 started Turkey’s first domestic parachute production.
One crash, one cancelled order
The Turkish Aeronautical Association ordered gliders and trainers, but during a delivery test flight Selahattin Reşit Alan crashed into a ditch beside the runway and was killed. The association cancelled the order, and a law barred the factory from exporting to Spain, Iran and Iraq. The Nu.D.38 first flew on 11 February 1944, but only one was built. Demirağ sued the association, but the case, first heard in October 1943, was rejected.
Nuri Demirağ in numbers
The company
- In short
- Founded 1936
- Founded by industrialist Nuri Demirağ
- Factory at Beşiktaş, Istanbul, with 500 staff
- Flying school at Yeşilköy
Production
- Best known for
- Nu.D.36 trainer
- Nu.D.36 two-seat trainer biplane
- Nu.D.38 four-passenger light transport
- 65 gliders for the Turkish Aeronautical Association
Today
- Now
- Closed
- Factory later nationalised; site now part of the Istanbul Naval Museum
The numbers
- Employees
- 500
- Nu.D.36 trainers completed
- 24
- Gliders delivered to THK
- 65
- Pilots trained at Gök Okulu
- 290 by 1943
Every notable Nuri Demirağ aircraft
| Aircraft | Role | First flight | Built | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nuri Demirağ Nu.D.36 | Two-seat trainer biplane | 1936 | 24 | Retired | Walter Gemma radial engine |
| Nuri Demirağ Nu.D.38 | Twin-engine light transport | 1944 | 1 | Retired | Four passengers; design began about 1936 |
| Nuri Demirağ Nu.D.40 | Twin-boom fighter project | Retired | Wind-tunnel tested at AVA Göttingen 1937–1939 |
Where Nuri Demirağ built, who led it, what it achieved
Factories
- Beşiktaş factory · Beşiktaş, Istanbul — Aircraft factory with 500 staff; later nationalised
- Yeşilköy airfield · Yeşilköy, Istanbul — Flight test field and Gök Okulu school; later absorbed into the airport
People
- Nuri Demirağ · founder — Industrialist, 1886–1957; founded the National Development Party in 1945
- Selahattin Reşit Alan · engineer — Designed the Nu.D.36 and Nu.D.38; killed in a test flight accident
Records and firsts
- First private aircraft factory in Turkey
Nuri Demirağ, year by year
Demirağ’s cigarette-paper factory starts production
Atatürk gives him the surname Demirağ
Aircraft factory founded in Beşiktaş
Nu.D.36 trainer completed
Wind-tunnel testing of Nu.D.38 and Nu.D.40 models begins at Göttingen
Turkish Aeronautical Association places its first order
Gök Okulu has trained 290 pilots
Nu.D.38 first flight
Nuri Demirağ dies in Istanbul
Everything people ask about Nuri Demirağ
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Around Nuri Demirağ
Every fact, checked
- Nuri Demirağ (Wikipedia)
- Nuri Demirağ (Turkish Wikipedia)
- Nuri Demirağ Nu D.36 (Wikipedia)
- Nuri Demirağ Nu.D.38 (Wikipedia)
- Nuri Demirağ Nu D.40 (Wikipedia)
Verified 2026-10-03.