Aurel Vlaicu

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Aurel Vlaicu

Born

Died

November 19, 1882

Binini, Austro-Hungarian Empire
September 13, 1913 (aged 30)
Bneti, Kingdom of Romania

Nationality

Romanian

Occupation

airplane designer and pilot

Known for

aviation pioneer

Aurel Vlaicu (Romanian pronunciation: [a.urel vlajku] ( listen); November 19, 1882 September
13, 1913) was a Romanian engineer, inventor, airplane constructor and early pilot.[1][2]

Contents

[hide]

1 Early Years and Education

2 Aviation career

3 Vlaicu airplanes design

4 Death

5 Legacy

6 See also

7 References

8 Bibliography

9 External links

Early Years and Education[edit]

Aurel Vlaicu was born in the village of Binini (renamed Aurel Vlaicu in 1927) near Geoagiu in
Transylvania, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and now in Romania. He attended a
Calvinist high school in Ortie (renamed "Liceul Aurel Vlaicu" in his honor in 1919) and took
his Baccalaureate in Sibiu in 1902. He was a high school colleague of Petru Groza, and in Sibiu
became friends with Octavian Goga. Vlaicu furthered his studies at Technical University of
Budapest and Technische Hochschule Mnchen in Germany, earning his engineer's diploma in
1907.[3]
Between 1907 and 1908 Vlaicu served in the Austro-Hungarian Navy, and on September 1, 1908
he took an engineer's position with the Opel car factory in Rsselsheim.[4]

Aviation career[edit]

A Vlaicu I airplane at October 1910 military exercises

Vlaicu left Opel in March 1909 and returned to Binini, where, together with his brother, Ion, he
built a glider which first flew in the summer of 1909.[5]

Aurel Vlaicu glider in flight, June - July 1909

In October 1909, on the advice of Goga, he moved to the Kingdom 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.[6]
On November 1, 1909 he began the construction of his first powered airplane, the A. Vlaicu Nr. I
at the Army Arsenal in Bucharest with funding from the Romanian Ministry of War and on a 300
lei monthly stipend from the Minister of Public Education. A. Vlaicu Nr. I flew for the first time
on June 17, 1910 over Cotroceni airfield.[7]
On September 28, 1910, as a part of the fall military exercises, Vlaicu flew his airplane from
Slatina to Piatra Olt carrying a message, an early instance of an airplane being used for military
purposes.[8]
The construction of A. Vlaicu Nr. II was started in December 1910 on a budget of 16,000 lei and
first flew in April 1911. Between 23 and 30 June 1912 Vlaicu competed with it at the
International Flight Week in Aspern-Vienna (Die internationale Flugwoche in Wien),[9] against 42
other aviators, including Roland Garros. Vlaicu won prizes totaling 7,500 Austro-Hungarian
krone for precision landing, projectile throwing and tight flying around a pole. On this occasion,
he was issued the FAI pilot license number 52. On return from Aspern he flew demonstration
flights throughout Transylvania.[10]

Giovanni Magnani, Aurel Vlaicu, Ion Ciulu (Vlaicu's mechanic) and a friend in front of A.
Vlaicu Nr. II airplane

Aurel Vlaicu at the controls of A Vlaicu II airplane

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 the Marconi 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 the German 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.[11][12]

Vlaicu airplanes design[edit]

During his short career, Aurel Vlaicu designed and built one glider[citation needed] and three airplanes of
his own design.[13]
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 aluminum tubing, the flight controls in front,
two 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 with Gnome rotary
engines.[citation needed]

A Vlaicu III airplane - view from above

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 the parasol wing allowed for the lateral stability that this type
of control system requires.[citation needed]

Death[edit]

Aurel Vlaicu tombstone

Aurel Vlaicu died on September 13, 1913 near Cmpina, on the outskirts of Bneti commune
while attempting to be the first to fly across the Carpathian Mountains in his now aged A. Vlaicu
Nr. II. He was expected to participate in the ASTRA festivities in Ortie, near Binini.[citation needed]
He was buried in Bellu cemetery, in Bucharest and was posthumously elected to the Romanian
Academy in 1948.[14]
The cause of Vlaicu's crash remains unsolved. Vlacu's friends Giovanni 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 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]

Legacy[edit]
June 17, the day of Aurel Vlaicu's first powered flight, is celebrated as The National Aviation
Day of Romania.[15]
The second largest airport in Romania Aurel Vlaicu International Airport, and a YR-ASA
registered TAROM Airbus A318-111 are named after him.[16]

Aurel Vlaicu on the 50 Romanian lei bill

Aurel Vlaicu University, a public university founded in 1991 in Arad bears Vlaicu's name.
His name is listed second on the Romanian Airmen Heroes Memorial in Bucharest, after
Gheorghe Caranda and before his friend and fellow pilot, Gheorghe Negel, who died in a plane
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 Bneti where he crashed his plane.
The 50 Romanian lei banknote has a portrait of Vlaicu on the obverse, and on the reverse a
drawing of one of his airplanes and a cross-section of the airplane's engine.
A commemorative 50 bani coin has been issues by the Romanian National Bank in 2010.[19]
His life was subject of a novel "Flcul din Binini" by Constantin Ghiban (published in 1953),
[20]
and of a movie by Mircea Drgan (released in 1978).[21]