June 17, 1910 Aurel Vlaicu flew the 1st Romanian designed & built aircraft
Romanian pilot and aircraft designer Aurel Vlaicu flew the first Romanian designed airplane. A. Vlaicu Nr. I, on June 17, 1910.
Within four years, he created a glider and three planes with avant-garde constructive solutions.
Valeriu Avram, Aurel Vlaicu, the first pilot of the Romanian Army
Aurel Vlaicu Flying First Romaninan-made Aircraft
Issued in 2024 by Romania
Part of the Stamp Day 2024: Aviation set
Designer: Mihail Vămășescu
A member of the Romanian Army, Vlaicu clambered aboard his first successful aeroplane design and took off from Cotroceni field at the Army Arsenal in Bucharest. The new airplane managed to fly to a height of 3 to 4 meters off the ground for 40 meters. A few months later, Vlaicu managed to fly 40 kilometers in the same aircraft. His next airplane the A. Vlaicu Nr. II was put to work by the Romanian army during the Second Balkan War performing aerial reconnaissance for the army
Aurel Vlaicu pilot license number 52 From the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale June 22, 1912
The construction of the first airplane, Vlaicu I, was carried out at the Army Arsenal. The aircraft, named “Vlaicu No. 1 model 1910,” represented a remarkable technical achievement for the era. On June 17, 1910, from the Cotroceni field, Aurel Vlaicu took off with his own aircraft, marking a historic moment for Romania.
Through this flight, Romania became the third country in the world on whose territory an original aircraft, conceived, built, and piloted by one of its citizens, rose into the air. Vlaicu demonstrated that his airplane could execute bold turns and reach impressive altitudes for that period, exceeding 450 feet, and in a military reconnaissance test he climbed to over 457 meters.
He thus became the first pilot of the Romanian Army and participated in the military maneuvers of 1910. On September 27 he flew over the route between Slatina and Piatra Olt, demonstrating the practical usefulness of the airplane for strategic purposes. Supported financially also by the future King Ferdinand I of Romania, he received funds to build a new, improved aircraft.
https://www.bucharest.ro/articles/aurel-vlaicu-the-first-pilot-of-the-romanian-army-inventor-of-the-first-romanian-airplane-has-a-street-bearing-his-name-in-bucharest-1198
Aurel Vlaicu died in 1912 while attempting to cross the Carpathian Mountains.
More history can be found here:
Chinua Achebe publishes his first major novel Things Fall Apart on June 17, 1958