This aviation pioneer’s first flight at Montesson, France, had at least one major improvement over the Wright feat—it was the first time an aircraft was able to take off from a flat surface using an onboard engine without outside assistance

Besides the famous Wright Brothers, there were many other enthusiastic aircraft designers whose immense contribution to the advancement of early aviation should not be forgotten. One of them was a Romanian inventor called Traian Vuia who designed, built and flew his own machines. This aviation pioneer’s first flight at Montesson, France, had at least one major improvement over the Wright feat—it was the first time an aircraft was able to take off from a flat surface using an onboard engine without outside assistance, such as an incline, rails, or catapult.

Vuia was born on August 17, 1872, in the village of Surducul Mic, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The village was later renamed Traian Vuia after its most famous son, and lies in presentday Romania. Vuia became a French citizen in 1918 and only returned to Romania months before his death, due to heart failure, on September 3, 1950.

Around 1900, Vuia began to take a keen interest in the problem of powered flight. He tried to build an aircraft in Romania, but then decided to go to France in an effort to secure financial backing. On July 1, 1902, he arrived in Paris, which was then the centre of the aeronautical world. He wished to interest balloon enthusiasts in his pet project but met with considerable scepticism. They were convinced that a heavier-than-air machine could not fly. After all, the whole basis of balloon flight was Archimedes’ principle of buoyancy. Next he presented his plans at the Académie des Sciences in Paris on February 16, 1903. His paper contained a description of an “aeroplane-automobile”—a lightweight monoplane, designed to take off from a normal road surface, fly cross country, and be easily piloted. The device had four wheels; it was powered by a single propeller in front; its climb and descent were controlled by changing the inclination of the wings; and a rudder, at the rear, was intended to help in horizontal control in the air. The academicians listened politely but then got rid of him with the comment, “The problem of flight with a machine which weighs more than air cannot be solved and it is only a dream.”

Not one to give up easily, Vuia decided to build the device himself. By December 1905, he completed construction of his first aircraft, the Vuia 1. It was a high-wing monoplane and has been called the first full-size conventionally shaped monoplane in history. It was powered by a 25 hp carbonicacid gas engine that could run for about three minutes. The liquid carbon dioxide fuel was vapourised in a Serpollet boiler. The weight of the aircraft was just 195 kg. Fortunately, Vuia weighed just 56 kg. So the engine had to lift only 251 kg into the air. Many well-known aviation personalities of the day (all biplane enthusiasts) were sceptical of his monoplane design. Vuia maintained that he was inspired by nature saying, “I have never seen a bird with more than two wings.” The experts were also worried because Vuia’s machine had only one propeller and its torque would make stability difficult to maintain. However, he was confident that his large rudder would effectively overcome such problems.