Türkiye's 1st aircraft factory to begin producing parts for Gokbey, Hurkus

By Goksel Yildirim

IZMIR, Türkiye (AA) – Türkiye's first aircraft factory, TOMTAS Aviation and Technology Inc., will soon begin producing parts for the multipurpose Gokbey helicopter and Hurkus trainer aircraft.

“We will be issuing our first invoice in October,” Ali Eksi, a board member at TOMTAS, told Anadolu on the sidelines of TEKNOFEST, Türkiye's premier technology and aerospace event.

“Within a few weeks, the certification processes will be completed and we will start the production of the structural parts of Gokbey and Hurkus,” Eksi added.

TEKNOFEST, which opened Wednesday in Türkiye’s Izmir province, has been jointly organized every year by the Turkish Technology Team (T3) Foundation and the Ministry of Industry and Technology since 2018 in cooperation with other ministries and dozens of other public institutions, private companies and universities.

Anadolu has been among TEKNOFEST's media shareholders as a global communications partner since the first edition.

The history of TOMTAS Aviation and Technology dates back to the 1920s. Following the establishment of the Turkish Aircraft Society in 1925, action was taken to establish an aircraft factory.

In light of needs in terms of capital and technical personnel, a partnership was established with the German company Junkers.
The official opening of Tayyare (Plane) and Motor Turk AS (TOMTAS) was held in 1926 in Türkiye’s Kayseri province.

Some of the factory’s equipment and personnel were brought in from Germany.

The factory produced and assembled some aircraft parts patented by Junkers.

The partnership was cut short in 1928, however, due to a wage difference between German and Turkish workers and the German company's failure to fulfill its obligations under the agreement.

The shares of Junkers were transferred to the Turkish Aircraft Society.

TOMTAS was reopened in 1931 under the name the Kayseri Aircraft Factory.

The factory, after going through various changes, was in 1950 turned into today's Kayseri Air Supply and Maintenance Center Command.