Background and career
Sabiha Gökçen (Turkish: [sabiˈha ɟøcˈtʃɛn], born Ćorović; 22 March 1913 – 22 March 2001) was a Turkish aviator. During her flight career, she flew around 8,000 hours and participated in 32 different military operations. She became the world's first female fighter pilot, at age 23. As an orphan, she was one of the nine children adopted by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
Gökçen became the world's first woman combat pilot after taking part in military operations during the Dersim massacre, in which she carpet-bombed civilians and massacred survivors with machine guns.
She is recognized as the first female combat pilot by The Guinness Book of World Records and was selected as the only female pilot for the poster of "The 20 Greatest Aviators in History" published by the United States Air Force in 1996. Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, the second airport in Istanbul, is named after her. She was also the subject of an ancestry controversy in Turkey, which led to Hrant Dink's assassination.
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