Jan Steglau

Latvian businesmen, aviation pioneer of the begining of 20th century, who made his wealth in Russia, St. Petersburg in metal industry. 

Avio science and industry pioneer in the Russia Empire (one of the first started to use metal fuselage for planes etc.) 

Returned to Latvia after Bolshevik revolution, but due economic crisis was not able to start business and further moved to South America. 

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Among the people attracted by these lectures was Steglau the millionaire, whom I have aheady mentioned. A simple peasant by origin, Mr. Steglau started life as a navvy on drainage construction. He performed his military service, of course, as a private, and after four years went back to his old work, becoming a ganger in a short time. Circumstances enabled him to start business for himself and in a few years he became one of the richest contractors in the Empire.

The possession of money made no difference in Mr. Steglau's character. Hei was a millionaire at forty, but he remained the same simple, good-tempered peasant. He began to study the theory of aviation. He designed plans for an aeroplane of his own, built it himself, fitted it with the best engine obtainable, and then flew in it himself. Mr. Steglau as a contractor had been famous for the solidity of his work and he astonished the aviation world in the spring of 1911 by denouncing the use of fabric for the wings of the aeroplane as being far too flimsy and urging that three-ply wood should be used instead. The experts were naturany unconvinced by suggestions coming from a theoretically uneducated man, but in the spring of 1912 Steglau appeared on the aerodrome of the Imperial All Russia Aero Club with his new tractor biplane entirely made of wood and fitted with a hundred horse-power engine. "Who is going to fly on this machine?" Mr. Steglau was asked. "I am," was the answer. "Have you ever done any flying before? " "Never," was the reply. Whereupon he climbed into the aeroplane, started the engine, and began to rise from the earth to the stupefaction of the onlookers. He rose to a height of 600 feet and flew above the aerodrome for nearly an hour. His landing was less successful than his rising. He smashed down a fence ten feet high, but his machine was practically undamaged. The ends of the wings were slightly broken, the propeller was smashed, and one of the cylinders of the engine was crumpled. That was all. The pilot himself climbed out of the seat with the same unconcern as might be shown by a coachman who has noticed that there is something wrong with one of the wheels of his carriage, although the shock of the landing had been so great that any ordinary aeroplane must have been smashed to pieces. He was surrounded at once with astonished enquirers. "There is nothing in the least wonderful in what I have done," said Mr. Steglau. "I have watched other men flying, and I saw how they did it. As soon as I got up into the air I began to think how I should land and" - looking at his machine and the broken fence - " it might have been worse." The Russian peasant takes a long time to make up his mind, but when he has once determined on a course of action nothing can stop him. In this, indeed, he is very like the Englishman. During the summer of the same year Mr. Steglau flew at the second Military Aviation Meeting, and his apparatus was soon regarded as the safest that had ever been constructed. He never flew without an accident. On one occasion he killed a cow. On another occasion he wrecked the top of a hangar, but whatever else happened neither the pilot nor the machine was eyer seriously damaged. The principal technical defect of his aeroplane was its lack of great lifting power. At the end of 1913, as I have related, Mr Steglau was obliged, by the pressure of his financial associates, to abandon flying, but he has continued his connection with the Imperial Russian Technical Society and has constantly been lavishly generous in the assistance he has given to struggling inventors.

B. Roustam Bek, Aerial Russia

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[Not corrected autotranslate]

Jānis Steglavs - born in the vicinity of Jelgava, to a peasant family. An entrepreneur of Tsarist Russia, Latvia and later Argentina, who started as a simple apprentice, but quickly became a businessman and millionaire already in Tsarist Russia, at the beginning of the 20th century.

The first (!) in the world to develop an airworthy airplane with a hard surface coating (plywood) instead of a canvas coating, ahead of later manufacturers by 20-25 years. The hard structure was significantly heavier, but at the same time - safer and in the event of an accident allowed to save the pilot's life.
NB Steglavs tested all the airplanes himself, although he suffered several accidents.

As Steglavs himself writes in his memoirs "The Truth of Working Life":

"... while grazing, I thought - "When I grow up, I will become a blacksmith. I will save money and buy a small house where I will live with my parents"...

At the age of 15, he went on foot to Jelgava and studied to be a coppersmith for 4 years. Although the work takes up the whole day from 6 in the morning until late at night, because Jānis also has to perform the duties of a "blacksmith's servant", he devotes every free moment to reading and studying, constantly educating himself.

After mastering the trade, he went to Russia - practically without money, sometimes not eating for several days and earning money by doing odd jobs.

[There is no information about life in Russia before the factories yet]

A few years later, Steglav himself owned a factory in St. Petersburg, which manufactured and installed equipment for the city's municipal utilities. Sewer manhole covers from Steglav's company can still be found on the streets of St. Petersburg today.

At all times, wealthy people have their own entertainments and hobbies. Nowadays, expensive paintings are collected, golf is played or Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Steglav had a deep and profound interest in aviation, which at that time was considered science fiction or incomprehensible exoticism. The main thing is to believe in your dreams!

In May 1911, Jānis Steglavs developed his first prototype of an aircraft, which was also tested in reality. Unfortunately, the test pilot was flying for the first time, so the plane was significantly damaged during landing.

In 1912, Steglavs had developed a new model of an aircraft that could rise to a height of 600 feet and fly for more than an hour. As described by a visitor to this air show - later Lieutenant Colonel B. Roustam-Bek (B. Roustam Bek, "Aerial Russia"), this model was tested by Steglav himself, who also flew it for the first time. The landing was relatively unsuccessful, but the pilot was not injured precisely because of the improved rigid structure.

As B. Rustams-Bek writes:

"... among the course visitors there were also Steglav, the millionaire I have already mentioned. A simple farmer by birth, Mr. Steglav began his career as a worker in a sewage company. He was drafted into military service and after 4 years returned to his previous place of work, where he quickly became a supervisor. Circumstances had allowed him to start an independent business and in a few years he had become one of the richest contractors in the Empire.

Wealth had not changed Steglav's character. He was a millionaire in his forties, but at the same time remained the same simple, balanced farmer. He had begun to study aviation theory. He himself developed the drawings of airplanes, built these airplanes himself, equipped them with the best available engines and flew them himself. Mr. Steglav, who as a manufacturer was famous for the quality of his products, surprised the aviation world in the spring of 1911 when he demonstrated his airplane model, the wing surfaces of which were not made of fabric, like all the others, but of three-layer plywood..."

The German inventor H. Fokker also participated in the tests of Steglav's aircraft, and according to the Russian press, many of the ideas first introduced by Steglav (a light metal tube structure instead of a wooden frame, plywood instead of canvas, a special engine design invented and manufactured in Riga by the Estonian-born engineer Teodor Kaleps) were innovations that were unknown in Germany and later significantly advanced the development of the aviation industry. According to the Russian press, Steglav's innovations and solutions were carefully studied by all foreigners present at the air shows, but they did not make any impression on the stagnant (at that time) officials of Russia itself.

In 1914, Steglav presented a new airplane model. which could potentially become the basic model of Russian military aviation, but the result of this presentation is unknown.

[there is no information yet about the course of the 1st p. war and revolution]

After the Bolshevik-communist October Revolution in Russia, Steglav's factories were nationalized,

"... people-Bolsheviks-socialists. who wanted to replace the natural course of life with fantasies, recognized me as a destroyer of well-being, put me in prison and took away everything from me to my pocket pencil.... When I escaped from prison and crossed Lake Peipus by boat, I entered Latvia with wealth similar to that with which I had left it..." J. Steglavs, 1924.g. ,
Steglavs himself, returned to Latvia.

03.08.1925. in the newspaper "Pirmdiena" No.26. Steglavs in the article "The people need to save millions"