Aurel Vlaicu | |
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| Born | Aurel Vlaicu (1882-11-19)19 November 1882 |
| Died | 13 September 1913(1913-09-13) (aged 30) |
| Cause of death | Plane crash[1] |
| Resting place | Bellu Cemetery,Bucharest 44°24′13.79″N26°5′59.11″E / 44.4038306°N 26.0997528°E /44.4038306; 26.0997528 |
| Citizenship | Hungarian, Romanian |
| Alma mater | Budapest University of Technology and Economics Technische Universität München |
| Occupations |
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| Known for | Pioneer of Romanian and world aviation |
| Parent(s) | Dumitru Vlaicu (father)[2] Ana (mother) |
| Awards |
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Aurel Vlaicu (Romanian pronunciation:[a.uˈrelˈvlajku]ⓘ; 19 November 1882 – 13 September 1913) was aRomanian engineer, inventor, airplane constructor, and early pilot.[3][4]
Aurel Vlaicu was born in the village ofBencenc inTransylvania,Austria-Hungary. In 1925, by then part of Romania, it was renamedAurel Vlaicu, and is now part ofGeoagiu town. He attended aCalvinist high school inSzászváros (renamedAurel Vlaicu High School in his honor in 1919) and took hisbaccalaureate inNagyszeben (today Sibiu) in 1902. He was a high school colleague ofPetru Groza, and in Nagyszeben became friends withOctavian Goga. Vlaicu furthered his studies atTechnical University of Budapest andTechnische Hochschule München inGermany, earning his engineer's diploma in 1907.[5]
Between 1907 and 1908 Vlaicu served in theAustro-Hungarian Navy, and on September 1, 1908, he took an engineer's position with theOpel car factory inRüsselsheim.[6]
Vlaicu left Opel in March 1909 and returned to Bencenc, where, together with his brother, Ion, he built aglider which first flew in the summer of 1909.[7]In October 1909, on the advice ofOctavian Goga, he moved to theKingdom of Romania, where with help from Romanian-Transylvanian expatriates, he obtained financial support to build his first powered airplane, following a number of demonstration flights with rubber-powered models in front of Romanian government officials and journalists.[8]
On November 1, 1909, he began the construction of his first powered airplane, theA. Vlaicu Nr. I at theArmy Arsenal inBucharest with funding from theRomanian Ministry of War and on a 300lei monthly stipend from theMinister of Public Education.A. Vlaicu Nr. I flew for the first time on June 17, 1910, overCotroceni airfield.[9]
On September 28, 1910, as a part of the fallmilitary exercises, Vlaicu flew his airplane fromSlatina toPiatra Olt carrying a message, an early instance of an airplane being used formilitary purposes.[10]
The construction ofA. Vlaicu Nr. II was started in December 1910 on a budget of 16,000lei and first flew in April 1911. Between 23 and 30 June 1912 Vlaicu competed with it at the International Flight Week inAspern-Vienna (Die internationale Flugwoche in Wien),[11] against 42 other aviators, includingRoland Garros. Vlaicu won prizes totaling 7,500Austro-Hungarian krone for precision landing, projectile throwing and tight flying around a pole. On this occasion, he was issued theFAI pilot license number 52. On return from Aspern he flew demonstration flights throughout Transylvania.[4]
A. Vlaicu Nr. III was a two-seat monoplane having a fully cowled 80 hp (60 kW)Gnome Gamma engine.[citation needed] Built on contract for theMarconi Company for experiments with aerial radio, at the time of Vlaicu's death it was only partially finished. It was completed by his friends and several short test flights were made during 1914 by military pilot Petre Macavei. Further tests were hindered by the unusual controls. In 1916, during theGerman occupation of Bucharest, the aircraft was seized and shipped to Germany, and it was last seen in 1942 at an aviation exhibition in Berlin by Romanian military officers, though no mention of it is made in references on the Berlin exhibition.[12][13]
During his short career, Aurel Vlaicu designed and built one glider[citation needed] and three airplanes of his own design.[14]
He perfected his design on rubber band powered models he began experimenting with while a student in Munich.[citation needed]
Vlaicu's three powered airplanes had one central aluminium tubing, the flight controls in front, two counter-rotating propellers, one mounted ahead of the nacelle, and the other to the rear of the wing up high, partially counteracting each other's torque. They employ tricycle-landing gears with independent trailing arm suspension, had brakes on the rear wheel, and were equipped withGnomerotary engines.[citation needed]
His airplanes lacked ailerons, relying on just rudder and elevators for control, via a steering wheel mounted on a tiller. The wheel controlled the elevators while sideways motion of the tiller controlled the rudder. The wheel could be temporarily locked with the help of two dowels. The low center of gravity provided by theparasol wing allowed for the lateral stability that this type of control system requires.[citation needed]
Aurel Vlaicu died on September 13, 1913, nearCâmpina, on the outskirts ofBănești commune crashing his now agedA. Vlaicu Nr. II while attempting to be the first to fly across theCarpathian Mountains. He was expected to participate in theASTRA festivities inSzászváros, near Bencenc.[citation needed]
He was buried on September 17, 1913, inBellu Cemetery, in Bucharest. At his funeral he was awarded theMilitary Virtue Medal. In 1948, he was posthumously elected to theRomanian Academy.[15]
The cause of Vlaicu's crash remains unknown. Vlaicu's friendsGiovanni Magnani and Constantin Silisteanu dismissed claims of sabotage, the two being among the first to inspect the wreckage as they were following him in an automobile. The most plausible cause of Vlaicu's death was that the airplane stalled while landing with the engine off (as it was common practice at the time, landings were made with the engine off, however this made it difficult for the pilot to abort a misjudged landing).[citation needed]
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17 June, the day of Aurel Vlaicu's first powered flight, is celebrated as The National Aviation Day of Romania.[16]
His name is listed second on theRomanian Airmen Heroes Memorial in Bucharest, afterGheorghe Caranda and before his friend and fellow pilot,Gheorghe Negel, who died in an aircraft crash one month after Vlaicu, on October 11, 1913.[17]
A museum was established in his home village, now named Aurel Vlaicu.[18] and a monument was erected near Bănești where he crashed his plane.
Thesecond largest airport in Romania, aTAROMAirbus A318-111[19] and theAurel Vlaicu University, a public university founded in 1991 inArad are all named after him.
The 50Romanian lei banknote has a portrait of Vlaicu on theobverse, and on the reverse a drawing of one of his airplanes and a cross-section of the airplane's engine.
A commemorative 50bani coin was issued by the Romanian National Bank in 2010.[20]
ABucharest Metro train station,Aurel Vlaicu metro station is named in memory of him.
His life was the subject of the novels "Maistorașul Aurel, ucenicul lui Dumnezeu: Cronica vremii și vieții lui Vlaicu" byVictor Ion Popa (published in 1939)[21] and "Flăcăul din Binținți" byConstantin Ghiban (published in 1953),[22] and of a movie byMircea Drăgan (released in 1978).[23]
In 2010 a museum inDeva ordered several hundreds mugs to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Vlaicu's first powered flight. The mug designers used a pictured uploaded to Wikipedia showing another Romanian aviation pioneer,Traian Vuia, which was wrongly labelled as Aurel Vlaicu (Wikipedia upload picture nameAurel Vlaicu avionul).[24][25] As of May 2018, the incorrect picture is still used on several websites.[26][27][28][29]
