Jan Olieslagers

JAN OLIESLAGERS
1893-1942
AKA Oehlschlager

Jan Olieslagers Collection of Dave Lam, 2-20-05

Jan Olieslagers and his Blériot
Signed by his own hand.
Shot in Holland
Text & Photo from Jean-Pierre Lauwers

Jan Olieslagers in his Blériot, 1909
Courtesy of Jean-Pierre Lauwers

JAN OLIESLAGERS AVIATION SCHOOL, 1909
translated into English from the French, 3-15-02
by Jean-Pierre Lauwers

Victor De Jonckheere was born at Zwevezele 1868 September 22.
1909 he went to that "Aviation week of Antwerp" and seeing Jan Olieslagers flying there he became a pupil of the Jan Olieslagers Aviation School at "St. Job in 't Goor".

Oehlschlager & Rawlinson
at Nice, April, 1910
Oehlschlager in his Blériot and above, Rawlinson in his Farman
Library of Congress Collection, 6-17-08

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
By email from Dave Lam, 1-25-03 Jan was born in Antwerp, Belgium, May 14, 1893. He earned Belgian license # 5 on March 31, 1910, in a Blériot.

ONLINE RESOURCES If you search for Jan Osliegers using Google, (8-24-03), you will find about 338 links. Among the most helpful are the following. However, you will be rewarded by visiting some of the other links as time permits.

THE PIONEERS      This website offers a resumé of the history of aviation in Belgium from 1794 to 1996. Included in the story is the following paragraph which mentions Jan Olieslagers.

     "In 1910, the Aero-Club of Belgium organised a flying week in Brussels at the Stokkel Hippodrome. Eleven Belgian pilots were listed on the program :Pierre de Caters, Jan Olieslagers, Charles Van den Born, Joseph Christiaens, Jules Tyck, Jules de Laminne, Nicolas Kinet, Alphonse de Ridder, Leon Verstraeten, Joseph d'Hespel. and Alfred Lanser.
     Olieslagers established a new world record flying at a height of 1,524 metres."

THE GOLDEN BOOK This appears to be an entry point to a fabulous collection of photographs. The text is all in French which prevents me from understanding it very well. However, it seems to be a collection of pages from an album filled with pictures of early Belgian aviators and aeroplanes. You will be able to enlarge the picture of the Olieslagers' page. I suggest that you surf about the site, just to enjoy some of the other entries. You can access the site by clicking on the title.

ONLINE RESOURCES
You will find no less than 164 links to websites which treat of Jan Olieslagers career if you use the Google search engine. I found one, The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, which is most helpful for understanding the role of Belgians in the development of aviation. It also has information on the development of aviation in 19 other countries including Argentina, Austria, Canada, China and France. I think you will want to visit each of their pages.
You may access it by clicking on: Belgian Aviation.

Jan Olieslagers died in 1942

Editor's Note:
If you have any information on this pioneer aviator
please contact me.
E-mail to Ralph Cooper

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