Aurel Vlaicu was a Romanian engineer and pioneer of aviation born in 1882. He studied engineering in Budapest and Munich, obtaining his degree in 1907. In 1908, he returned to Romania where he built his first glider and began experimenting with flight. In 1909, he moved to Bucharest where he constructed his first airplane, the Vlaicu I. In 1911, he built the Vlaicu II, which he used to win several prizes at an air show in Austria in 1912, impressing spectators with his skills. Unfortunately, Vlaicu died in a plane crash in 1913 at the young age of 31, but he is considered a national hero in Romania for his accomplishments as one of the first pilots

1. AUREL
VLAICU

2. BIOGRAPHY
Aurel Vlaicu (b. November 19, 1882,Binținți, near
Orăștie, Hunedoara County - d. September 13, 1913,
Bănești, near Câmpina) was a Romanian engineer,
inventor and pioneer of Romanian and world aviation.
In his honor, the commune of Binținti is today called
Aurel Vlaicu.
Education
He was a student of the reformed "Kocsárd Kún" high
school in Orăștie, which from 1919 onwards was called
"Aurel Vlaicu High School", taking his baccalaureate in
1902 at the current "Gheorghe Lazăr" National College
in Sibiu.
He began his engineering studies at the Technical
University of Budapest, studies which he continued at
the Technische Hochschule in Munich, obtaining his
engineering degree in 1907. He then worked as an
engineer at the Opel plants in Rüsselsheim.

3. GLIDERS
AND
AIRPLANES
▪ In 1908 he returned to Binținti where he built a glider
with which he made a number of flights in 1909. In the
fall of 1909 he moved to Bucharest and began the
construction of his first plane, Vlaicu I, at the Army
Arsenal. The plane flies without modifications (a unique
thing for the beginnings of world aviation) in June 1910.
In 1911 he builds a second plane, Vlaicu II, with which
in 1912 he won five memorable prizes (1 first prize and 4
second prizes) at the air show of in Aspern, Austria.
▪ The competition brought together between 23 and 30 June
1912, 40 pilots from 7 countries, of which 17 from
Austria-Hungary, 7 Germans, 12 French including Roland
Garros, the most famous pilot of the time, a Russian, a
Belgian, a Persian and the Romanian Vlaicu. In the most
famous Viennese newspaper, the Neue Freie Presse, there
were the following lines about Vlaicu's flights:
▪
▪ "Wonderful and courageous flights were performed by the
Romanian Aurel Vlaicu, on an original airplane, built by
the pilot himself, with two propellers, between which the
aviator sits. Every time this car swerved (turned) in
place, as if it was coming over, the world rewarded the
Romanian with stormy ovations, cheering him with
unimaginable enthusiasm."

4. The Vlaicu airplane
under construction
Aurel Vlaicu on
board the Vlaicu II
plane
First flight

5. ▪ Bucharest Băneasa International Airport is named
after him:Bucharest Băneasa International Airport -
Aurel Vlaicu.
▪ Aurel Vlaicu's hometown is named after him:Aurel
Vlaicu.
▪ A town in MureșCounty is named after him:Aurel
Vlaicu.
▪ A street in the city of Cluj Napoca bears his name.
▪ A high school in Orăștie,where he was a student,
bears his name Notaphilia.
▪ The portrait of Aurel Vlaicu on a banknote with the
face value of 50 lei,issuedin 2005.
▪ In 2000, the National Bank of Romania put into
circulationa banknote,on a polymer support,with a
nominal value of 500,000 lei (ROL),with reference to
Aurel Vlaicu.