The first Civil Aviation School in Romania

An item on the First Civil Aviation School in Romania.

România Internațional, 03.01.2015, 14:19

After the Romanian Principalities had united at the end of WWI, the economy of the modern Romanian state saw a genuine boom. Aviation was also developing alongside the other sectors of the economy, and Romanian aviation pioneers had a considerable contribution to this development with the planes invented by Traian Vuia and Aurel Vlaicu. After 1918, this sector was entirely subordinated to the army and civil aviation wasn’t developing at all. This was true until 1928, when brothers Mircea and Ioana Cantacuzino opened the first non-military flight school after WWI. Mircea, a descendant of a famous ruling family in the Romanian principalities, had studied engineering in Charlottenburg, Germany, while his elder sister Ioana completed her university studies in France.

Ioana Cantacuziono was to become the first woman pilot in Romania and the first director of an aviation school. The two brothers set up a flight school, with support from Octavian Oculeanu, friends and family, on their estate in Cornu in Prahova Valley area. Mircea opened a hangar and a unit delivering classes for Romanian pilots, the first after the one in Baneasa, northern Bucharest. Here is commander Dan Hadarca with details on the early efforts to set up the first Romanian aviation school for civilians.

Dan Hadarca: “Prior to WWI, 4-5 people had taken their pilot licenses abroad, under the aegis of the International Aeronautic Federation. Romania’s Air Club could also grant licenses recognized by the international federation, but before the war most of the flight instructors came from abroad. After several attempts Mircea Cantacuzino managed to buy a Klemm plane from Germany fitted with a Messerschmitt engine. The purchase of that plane as well as of the others that followed had been suggested by his friend and instructor Octav Oculeanu, who also conducted several test flights. His expertise as a fighter pilot enabled Oculeanu to give the best counseling in terms of plane acquisition. The school had 7 students at first, but two of them failed the medical tests.”

The civil aviation school founded by Mircea and Ioana Cantacuzino was active at a time of effervescence in the Romanian aviation, dominated by members of former ruling families, such as George Valentin Bibescu and Bazu Cantacuzino, a relative of Mircea’s. Here is Dan Hadarca again.

Dan Hadarca: “Up to a certain time in the past, the procurement for the flight schools and plane owners hadn’t been very difficult, as the state used to sponsor part of the acquisitions. For this reason, the period between the two world wars was considered the golden age of the Romanian aviation. In 25 years since the anti-communist revolution we didn’t manage to bring in Romania as many planes as they registered back between 1928 and 1940, in 12 years only. Neither did we manage to train as many pilots as they did.”

The flight school founded by the Cantacuzino brothers continued to operate until 1940, although its founder had died in a plane crash ten years before. His sister, Ioana, took over the school, but due to the war, most of the flight schools in Romania were subordinated to the Ministry of Air Forces and Navy. Today, the descendants of Mircea and his son Dan are pay tribute to their family through a series of events carried out by the Mircea and Dan Cantacuzino Memorial Foundation. Their latest event in this series was the recent launch of an album entitled “Mircea Cantacuzino Aviation School.”