Mr. Sabo Selimic was born in Mostar, Yugoslavia in 1936.

From a very early age, Sabo Selimic (1936-2013) was fascinated with flying. In 1950, at the tender age of 14, motivated by a promise made to friends that he could best their jumps from an 80-foot bridge over the Neretva River, he made his first parachute jump from a Russian PO-2 with the Mostar Flying Club. From that defining moment, he continued to cultivate a passion for aviation, completing his first solo flight in 1952.

Born and raised in Mostar, in independent Yugoslavia, Sabo was part of an enthusiastic group of youngsters pursuing the adventure of flight, driven by the desire and need to strengthen the country's defense against a potential invasion by the Soviet Union.

After his first solo flight, gliders became his passion and he soon started logging many hours in the skies over his quickly developing post-WWII country. In the early 1950's flying equipment was scarce and the only available options were captured German WWII gliders and planes.

At only 17, after dozens of parachuting jumps and hundreds of flying hours, he received his Silver C Badge. He went on flying the famous Fieseler Storch, indigenous planes such as the Aero-2 and Aero-3 and gliders such as the high performance DFS Weihe (Harrier), a glider known for breaking many records including the world record for altitude gain of 31,709 ft. in 1959. He was injured and survived a serious crash, which destroyed his Grunau Baby glider.

Sharing a love of flying with his brother, peers, and younger generation he became an instructor while continuing to pilot gliders in pursuit of his Gold C Badge. Although flying was his passion, it was not his profession. As a young journalist, Sabo often flew to his assignments, and enjoyed being the first to arrive and return with reports and photographs before his colleagues.

Devoted to his profession, and his family, Sabo chose to give up flying in order to spend more time with his wife and two sons. However, throughout his successful career as an editor, executive, political adviser and diplomat, he never gave up his interest in aviation and was a frequent guest in cockpits with his pilot friends.

Until Sabo's last day, he continued to share fond memories from his days of flight with family and friends and actively followed the amazing developments in aviation since his first solo flight in the 50s.

His wife Ficho (Firdeusa) and two sons, Narcis and Nermin continue to honor his legacy and passion for aviation.