Ștefan Protopopescu

Ștefan Protopopescu (14 January 1886 – 10 October 1929) was a Romanian officer and aviation pioneer, he held the no. 1 pilot license in Romania, being the first licensed pilot in Romania and the first pilot of the Romanian Army.

Military career

Ștefan Protopopescu, "Bîrță" for friends, Attracted by aviation, he started pilot training at the flight school from Chitila together with Lt. Stelian Boiangiu, Slt. Nicolae Druțu and Slt. Gheorghe Negrescu. He graduated on 9 July 1911, receiving the no. 1 pilot license in Romania, being followed by , who received his license 8 days later.

After getting his license, he participated in the autumn military maneuvers that took place at Pașcani-Roman in September 1911, together with pilots George Valentin Bibescu, , Gheorghe Negrescu, Nicolae Capșa and Poly Vacas. For his actions, he was decorated, along with the others, with the Virtutea Militară 1st class medal.

Once the maneuvers were finished, Protopopescu carried out an air tour, on the Bucharest-Turnu-Severin route, being accompanied by his colleague, Gheorghe Negrescu, with another airplane. It was the first flight of its kind in Romania. The "raid" began on the morning of 22 October 1911 and was finished on the 27th after some technical difficulties. He also performed the first non-stop flight on the Bucharest-Constanța route. From the beginning of the summer of 1917, he was tasked with creating a new fighter unit. The new unit was called Escadrila N.11 (N.11 or Nieuport 11 Squadron) and it was a fighter squadron composed of only Romanian airmen with Protopopescu as its first commander. By the end of the war, the pilots of N.11 squadron obtained 15 air victories. On 6 August 1917, he was slightly wounded in the hands and arm during a dogfight with two enemy airplanes. while Protopopescu was assigned as commander of the Military Piloting School of Odessa. From 1918, he was appointed Director of the Aeronautics and on 15 December, Major Protopopescu received the command of Grupul 1 Aeronautic.

The qualities of the aircraft led the Ministry of War to order a series of 25 aircraft on 10 January 1923 from the Astra Aircraft Factory. However, the Astra factory did not respect the prescriptions of the prototype made at the Aeronautical Arsenal and changed the frame of the wings at its own initiative, and this led to the death of test pilot . Following this accident, Protopopescu together with the engineers from Astra improved the design, and the new Proto 2 (aircraft) started production.

At the request of the Romanian government, Ștefan Protopopescu drew up a memorandum on the establishment of an aircraft and engine factory, a memorandum supported by the Chief of Staff, Colonel Paul Teodorescu. Following this, the Romanian Parliament adopted the "Law on industrial enterprises in connection with national defense" in 1925. This act will mark the foundation of IAR.

The last aircraft he would design was the Proto-SET-2, another reconnaissance airplane. The design was made in collaboration with engineer Grigore Zamfirescu, the founder of SET. With this airplane, the SET company started its activity. It was powered by the Lorraine-Dietrich 450 hp engine and two prototypes were manufactured, one for static tests and one for flight tests. During one of the test flights, the prototype was damaged when the engine caught fire. Although the flight performances and features of the aircraft were comparable with others that were in service with the Romanian Air Force, there were no orders for mass-production.

Awards Despite receiving the following awards, he never talked about them and never wore them.

Romania Virtutea Militară 1st class Order of the Star of Romania Order of the Crown of Romania

France Légion d'honneur