Torolf Eklund (13 April 1912 – 12 December 2000) was a Finnish

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

designer, who worked at the

Valtion lentokonetehdas ''Valtion lentokonetehdas'' (State aircraft factory) was a Finnish aircraft manufacturing company that was founded on 23 February 1928 from the IVL or I.V.L. factory (Ilmailuvoimien lentokonetehdas, Finnish Air Force Aircraft Factory), founded in ...

between 1935 and 1962. He privately designed and built his own small single-seat

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

, the

Eklund TE-1 The Eklund TE-1 was a Finnish-built single-seat flying boat of the late 1940s. Design and development The TE-1 was designed in late 1948 by Torolf Eklund, who was a Finnish aircraft designer for Valtion Lentokonetehdas between 1935 and 1962. T ...

, in the late 1940s. He was born in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. He graduated from the

Helsinki University of Technology Helsinki University of Technology (TKK; ; , HUT in international usage) was a technical university in Finland. It was located in Otaniemi, Espoo in the Helsinki metropolitan area, and it was one of the three universities from which the modern d ...

with a master's degree in aviation during the 1930s. As a student he formed the aviation club

Polyteknikkojen Ilmailukerho Polyteknikkojen Ilmailukerho (PIK) is the student flying club of the Aalto University. As well as a flying club, it develops light aircraft and gliders, often on a small scale but sometimes its designs have been produced in quantity. Approximately ...

, which still exists today. He was a reserve officer in the

Finnish Air Force The Finnish Air Force (FAF or FiAF; ; ) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of readiness formations for wartime conditions. The Finnish Air ...

and was working for the aircraft industry during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Eklund was also the chairman for the Finnish Aviation Engineer's Club between 1953 and 1954. Eklund was also the designer of the

Valmet Tuuli The Valmet Tuuli was a trainer aircraft, developed for the Finnish Air Force by the State Aircraft Factory (''Valtion lentokonetehdas'', VL). The aircraft was to be produced in 3 different versions. The last version, Tuuli III was redesigned from ...

aircraft.

Sources

''Ilmojen halki'' I-II, Karisto, Hämeenlinna, 1974.

Sources

Further reading