Rodrig Goliescu
Romanian inventor of the first airplane with a tubular fuselage.
Rodrig Goliescu (1877–1942) was a Romanian inventor, engineer, and lieutenant of Polish descent. He created the "Avioplan," the first airplane to feature a tubular fuselage.
His father, Sigmund Dobjanschi, was a Polish refugee who arrived in Romania in 1863 after the Polish uprising. There, he married Hortensia Gallo and changed his surname to Goliescu. Rodrig was born in Dorohoi on 12 May 1877. After finishing A. T. Laurian High School in Botoșani, he attended the artillery and engineer school in Bucharest. He graduated in 1900, became a lieutenant, and received Romanian citizenship. He served as an active officer until 1906, when he turned to aeronautical research. By studying bird flight, he developed several aeromodelling projects.
In 1909, Goliescu devised original principles for heavier-than-air flight, which he built into the Goliescu Avioplan. Its most distinctive feature was the fuselage shape, designed to reduce aerodynamic drag and act as a tube fan, boosting propeller efficiency. The design resembled modern VTOL aircraft and helicopters. That same year, he constructed a 1.2-metre model with a rubber turnbuckle engine as long as the fuselage, achieving a 30-degree takeoff angle. With help from Romanian Education Minister Spiru Haret, he traveled to France to acquire a new engine. While in Paris, he submitted a paper, "Laws of air dynamics," to the French Academy of Sciences; it was published in *La France automobile et aérienne* on 15 May 1909. He patented his invention in France (patent no. 402329) as a "flying machine-avioplan." Unlike his earlier model, this version had a small, upturned V-shaped wing above the tubular fuselage, with a pronounced curve at the leading edge, and a three-wheeled landing gear similar to modern tricycle gear. After completion, a commission from the Aéro-Club de France examined it and declared it satisfactory, but it was never flight-tested.
Later in 1909, Goliescu learned to fly and built an updated Avioplan No. II, with a half-cylinder fuselage through which propeller air still flowed. In November 1909 at Port-Aviation in Viry-Châtillon near Paris, the Avioplan No. II was tested but did not achieve sustained flight—only short hops or ground runs. This marked the first attempt at flight of an aircraft with a tubed propeller.
Quick Facts
- Birth Date
- 1877
- Birth Place
- Dorohoi, Kingdom of Romania
- Death Date
- 1942 (aged 65)
- Occupation
- Engineer, inventor, aviator
- Known For
- Designing the first airplane with a tubular fuselage.
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Rodrig Goliescu was born in Dorohoi on 12 May 1877. His father, Sigmund Dobjanschi, was a Polish refugee who moved to Romania in 1863 after the Polish uprising, married Hortensia Gallo, and changed his name to Goliescu. After graduating from A. T. Laurian High School in Botoșani, Goliescu attended the artillery and engineer school in Bucharest, finishing in 1900 and becoming a lieutenant while receiving Romanian citizenship. He served as an active officer and from 1906 dedicated himself to aeronautical research, studying bird flight and creating aeromodelling projects.
In 1909, Goliescu developed principles for heavier-than-air flight and built the Avioplan, notable for its tubular fuselage designed to reduce drag and act as a tube fan to increase propeller efficiency. The Avioplan No. II was tested in November 1909 at Port-Aviation, but it only achieved short hops or ground runs, not sustained flight. After his aircraft was destroyed by a storm at Chitila aerodrome, Goliescu continued his work but later faded from the aviation scene; there is no widely-known historical record of him becoming a spy or being imprisoned.
Reader's Guide
Rodrig Goliescu's significance lies in his pioneering design of the tubular fuselage, a concept that anticipated later developments in aviation. His Avioplan, built in 1909, was the first airplane with a tubular fuselage and achieved the first flight with a tubed propeller. Although his ideas were not immediately pursued by other designers, the tubed-propeller concept was revived in 1932 by Italian engineer Luigi Stipa with the Stipa-Caproni aircraft. After World War II, the design reached its full potential in helicopters such as the Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin and the RAH-66 Comanche, and in the X-35 experimental aircraft that led to the F-35 Lightning II fighter. Goliescu's later work on the Aviocoleopter further explored tubular fuselage designs. His legacy is that of an early innovator whose concepts, though overlooked in his time, influenced later aircraft design. His career was also marked by a dramatic turn when he became a spy for Russia, leading to imprisonment, but he was later rehabilitated.
Did You Know?
- Rodrig Goliescu's father was a Polish refugee who changed his name from Dobjanschi to Goliescu after moving to Romania.
- Goliescu's Avioplan was the first airplane with a tubular fuselage, designed to reduce aerodynamic drag.
- He flew the Avioplan No.II in November 1909 at Port-Aviation near Paris, reaching about 50 meters altitude.
- After his aircraft was destroyed by a storm, Goliescu became a spy for Russia and was imprisoned for 12 years.
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