Mihail Merćep (1864 – 1937) – Sporting Feats, Business Failures and Successes and Aviation Controversies

Abstract

This article explores the life of the prominent sportsman, photographer and entrepreneur Mihail Merćep. It focuses on the period from 1910 to 1913, during which, together with the Rusjan brothers and Dragutin Novak, he engaged in activities that should not be overlooked in any examination of the early history of Croatian and Austro-Hungarian aviation. A native of Dubrovnik and by descent from Eastern Herzegovina, Merćep spent almost half of his life in Zagreb, where he ran a successful photographic studio for two decades, participated in the founding of numerous sporting associations and, in partnership with the Rusjan brothers, started building airplanes and organizing the first public flights. In the article, in addition to the controversies arising from the discrepancy between the written sources and their interpretation regarding the aviation industry, special attention is paid to the hitherto unexplored part of Merćep's biography from the period of the late 19th and early 20th century, as well as the times of the First World War.