Aurel Vlaicu

Lore & Background

Aurel Vlaicu was born in the village of Bencenc in Transylvania, then part of Austria-Hungary. He attended a Calvinist high school in Szászváros and took his baccalaureate in Nagyszeben in 1902. He studied at the Technical University of Budapest and Technische Hochschule München, earning his engineer's diploma in 1907. After serving in the Austro-Hungarian Navy from 1907 to 1908, he worked at the Opel car factory in Rüsselsheim from September 1908. He left Opel in March 1909 and returned to Bencenc, where with his brother Ion he built a glider that first flew in summer 1909. In October 1909, on the advice of Octavian Goga, he moved to the Kingdom of Romania and obtained financial support to build his first powered airplane. Construction of the A. Vlaicu Nr. I began on November 1, 1909, at the Army Arsenal in Bucharest, funded by the Ministry of War and a monthly stipend from the Minister of Public Education. It first flew on June 17, 1910, over Cotroceni airfield. On September 28, 1910, he flew from Slatina to Piatra Olt carrying a message, an early military use of an airplane. He built the A. Vlaicu Nr. II, which first flew in April 1911, and competed with it at the International Flight Week in Aspern-Vienna in June 1912, winning prizes for precision landing, projectile throwing, and tight flying. He was issued FAI pilot license number 52. His third aircraft, the A. Vlaicu Nr. III, was a two-seat monoplane built for the Marconi Company for aerial radio experiments, but was only partially finished at his death.

Reader's Guide

Aurel Vlaicu's significance lies in his contributions to early aviation design and his role as a pioneer of Romanian flight. He designed three powered airplanes with innovative features: a central aluminum tubing, two counter-rotating propellers, tricycle landing gear with independent trailing arm suspension, and brakes on the rear wheel. His aircraft lacked ailerons, relying on rudder and elevators for control, with lateral stability provided by a low center of gravity from the parasol wing. His legacy includes the naming of Romania's second largest airport, a university, a metro station, and a high school after him. The day of his first powered flight, June 17, is celebrated as National Aviation Day in Romania. He is listed second on the Romanian Airmen Heroes Memorial in Bucharest. His life has been the subject of novels and a movie. A museum exists in his home village, now named Aurel Vlaicu, and a monument near the crash site. The 50 Romanian lei banknote bears his portrait and a drawing of his airplane.

Did You Know?

• Aurel Vlaicu's first powered airplane, the A. Vlaicu Nr. I, flew for the first time on June 17, 1910.
• He won prizes at the International Flight Week in Aspern-Vienna in 1912 for precision landing, projectile throwing, and tight flying.
• A 2010 commemorative mug mistakenly used a picture of Traian Vuia instead of Aurel Vlaicu, and as of May 2018 the incorrect image was still used on several websites.