Traian Vuia or Trajan Vuia (; 17 August 1872 – 3 September 1950) was a Romanian inventor and
aviation pioneer who designed, built, and tested the first
tractor
A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...
monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...
. He was the first to demonstrate that a flying machine could rise into the air by running on wheels on an ordinary road. He is credited with a powered hop of made on 18 March 1906, and he later claimed a powered hop of . Though unsuccessful in sustained flight, Vuia's invention influenced
Louis Blériot
Louis Charles Joseph Blériot ( , also , ; 1 July 1872 – 1 August 1936) was a French aviator, inventor, and engineer. He developed the first practical headlamp for cars and established a profitable business manufacturing them, using much of t ...
in designing monoplanes. Later, Vuia also designed
helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...
s.
A French citizen from 1918, Vuia led the Romanians (especially
Transylvania
Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...
ns) of France in the
Resistance during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. He returned to Romania just before his death in 1950.
Education and early career
Vuia was born to Romanian parents—Simion Popescu, a priest, and his second wife, Ana Vuia—living in
Surducul Mic and/or Bujor, where he attended the local primary school, and
Făget, a village in the
Banat
Banat ( , ; ; ; ) is a geographical and Historical regions of Central Europe, historical region located in the Pannonian Basin that straddles Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. It is divided among three countries: the eastern part lie ...
region,
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...
, (modern-day Romania); the place is now called
Traian Vuia
Traian Vuia or Trajan Vuia (; 17 August 1872 – 3 September 1950) was a Romanian inventor and List of aviation pioneers, aviation pioneer who designed, built, and tested the first tractor configuration, tractor monoplane. He was the first to de ...
.
From 1884, he attended the Roman Catholic high school in
Lugoj
Lugoj (; ; ; ; ; ) is a list of cities and towns in Romania, city in TimiÈ™ County, Romania. The TimiÈ™, TimiÈ™ River divides the city into two halves: the "Romanian Lugoj" that spreads on the right bank, and the "German Lugoj" on the left bank. Th ...
and graduated in 1892.
He then enrolled in the School of Mechanics at the Polytechnic University of
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
where he received his engineering diploma. He then joined the Faculty of Law in Budapest, Hungary, where he earned a PhD in law in May 1901 with the thesis "Military and Industry, State and Contract Regime."
[.]
He returned to
Lugoj
Lugoj (; ; ; ; ; ) is a list of cities and towns in Romania, city in TimiÈ™ County, Romania. The TimiÈ™, TimiÈ™ River divides the city into two halves: the "Romanian Lugoj" that spreads on the right bank, and the "German Lugoj" on the left bank. Th ...
, where he studied the problem of human flight and designed his first flying machine, which he called the "airplane-car". He attempted to build the machine, but due to financial constraints decided to go to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
in July 1902, hoping to find someone interested in financing his project, possibly balloon enthusiasts. He met with considerable skepticism from people who believed that a heavier-than-air machine could not fly. He then visited
Victor Tatin
Victor Tatin (1843–1913) was a French engineer who created an early airplane, the ''Aéroplane'', in 1879. The craft was the first model airplane to take off using its own power after a run on the ground.
The model had a span of and weighed ...
, the well-known theoretician and experimenter who had built an aircraft model which flew in 1879. Tatin was interested in the project, but doubted that Vuia had a suitable engine or that his aircraft would be stable. Vuia then presented his plan to the
Académie des Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...
in Paris on 16 February 1903, but was rejected with the comment "The problem of flight with a machine which weighs more than air can not be solved and it is only a dream."
Undeterred, Vuia applied for a French patent on 15 May 1903, and obtained patent No. 332106 for his design.
He began to build his first flying machine in 1902–1903. Overcoming more financial difficulties, he also started construction of an engine of his own design for which he was granted various patents, the first in 1904.
Flying experiments

By December 1905, Vuia had finished construction of his first airplane, the "
Vuia I". It was a high-wing monoplane constructed entirely of steel tubing. The basic framework consisted of a pair of triangular frames, the lower members forming the sides of the rectangular chassis which bore four pneumatic-tyred wheels, the front pair steerable. The wing was mounted on the apices of these frames and resembled those of
Otto Lilienthal
Karl Wilhelm Otto Lilienthal (23 May 1848 – 10 August 1896) was a German pioneer of aviation who became known as the "flying man". He was the first person to make well-documented, repeated, successful flights with gliders, therefore making t ...
's gliders, with curved steel tubes radiating outwards from centres at the apex of each of the side frames, braced by wires attached to a pair of
kingposts, and covered in varnished linen. Pitch control was achieved by varying the
angle of attack
In fluid dynamics, angle of attack (AOA, α, or \alpha) is the angle between a Airfoil#Airfoil terminology, reference line on a body (often the chord (aircraft), chord line of an airfoil) and the vector (geometry), vector representing the relat ...
of the wing. A trapezoidal rudder was mounted behind and below the wing. It was powered by a
carbonic acid
Carbonic acid is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . The molecule rapidly converts to water and carbon dioxide in the presence of water. However, in the absence of water, it is quite stable at room temperature. The interconversion ...
gas engine driving a single tractor propeller. The engine had to be adapted by Vuia as a suitable engine was not available. Liquid carbon dioxide was vaporized in a
Serpollet boiler and fed to a Serpollet engine. The fuel supply was enough for a running time of about five minutes at full power. The aircraft was constructed for Vuia by the Parisian engineering company of Hockenjos and Schmitt.
Vuia chose a site in
Montesson, near Paris, for testing. At first, he used the machine without the wings mounted so he could gather experience controlling it on the ground. The wings were put on in March and on 18 March 1906, it lifted off briefly. After accelerating for about , the aircraft left the ground and traveled through the air at a height of about for a distance of about , but then the engine cut out and it came down. Caught by the wind, it was blown against a tree and damaged.
On 19 August a longer hop of at a height of about 2.5 m (8 ft) was made, ending in a heavy landing which damaged the propeller.
In August 1906, he modified the aircraft, reducing the
camber of the wing and adding an
elevator
An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...
.
In this form, it is sometimes called the Vuia I-bis.
The British aviation historian
Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith described this aircraft as "the first man-carrying monoplane of basically modern configuration", yet "unsuccessful" because it was incapable of sustained flight.
The French journal ''L'Aérophile'' emphasized that Vuia's machine had the capability to take off from a flat surface, without assistance such as an incline, rails, or catapult.
[.] At the time Europe was aware of the efforts of the
Wright brothers
The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were American aviation List of aviation pioneers, pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flyin ...
who on 17 December 1903, had flown their ''
Wright Flyer
The ''Wright Flyer'' (also known as the ''Kitty Hawk'', ''Flyer'' I or the 1903 ''Flyer'') made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft on December 17, 1903. Invented and flown by brothers Wrigh ...
'' from level ground using a dolly undercarriage running on a guide rail into a headwind, though few yet recognised the achievement. The Wrights had made sustained and controlled flights in a complete circuit by September 1904.
In 1907, Vuia built the Vuia II, using an
Antoinette internal combustion engine. This aircraft had the same basic configuration as the Vuia I-bis, but was smaller and lighter, with a total weight (including pilot) of and a wingspan of . Vuia succeeded in making a brief powered hop on 5 July, traveling , but damaging the aircraft and suffering slight injuries on landing. No further attempts were made to fly the aircraft.
Charles Dollfus, former curator of the Air Museum in Paris, wrote that aviation pioneer
Alberto Santos Dumont's use of wheels on
his aircraft was influenced by Dumont's having seen Vuia's flight attempts.
Documentation
Vuia made his first powered hop on 18 March 1906, on a flat field at Montesson, near Paris, France. The flight took place in the presence of his mechanic and two close friends. The airplane, Vuia 1, lifted one meter off the ground and flew for 12 meters. Accounts of this test published at the time, and of his later airborne tests, until 19 August 1906, are based on letters he wrote to ''
L'Aérophile
''L’Aérophile'' ("The Aerophile") was a French aviation magazine published from 1893 to 1947. It has been described as "the leading aeronautical journal of the world" around 1910.
History and contents
''L’Aérophile'' was founded and ru ...
'', the official journal of the
Aéro Club of France.
[Orna 1956, p.365] Vuia made the first known public demonstration of his airplane on 8 October 1906, when he became airborne for four meters, witnessed by
Ernest Archdeacon and
Édouard Surcouf.
Another journal of the period, ''
Flight
Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...
'', credited him with a five-meter hop on 8 October 1906, as the earliest entry in a list of his tests shown in a table of "the performances which have been made by the most prominent aviators of the last few years."
Later career
Between 1918 and 1921, Vuia built two experimental helicopters on the
Juvisy and
Issy-les-Moulineaux aerodromes.
Traian Vuia was a
socialist
Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
and a friend of
Petru Groza
Petru Groza (7 December 1884 – 7 January 1958) was a Romanian politician, best known as the first Prime Minister of Romania, Prime Minister of the Romanian Communist Party, Communist Party-dominated government under Soviet Union, Soviet Sovie ...
, who invited him to return to Romania in 1950.
He is buried at
Bellu Cemetery in Bucharest, Romania.
Legacy
Another invention by Vuia was a steam generator with internal combustion that generates very high pressure—more than 100 atm (10 MPa)—that is still used today in thermal power stations. Traian Vuia and one of his partners, Emmanuel Yvonneau, patented several types of gas generators.
On 27 May 1946, Vuia was named an honorary member of the
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy ( ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life.
According to its bylaws, the academy's ma ...
.
[.]
His birthplace, Bujoru, in
TimiÈ™ County
Timiș () is a county (''județ'') of western Romania on the border with Hungary and Serbia, in the historical regions of Romania, historical region of Banat, with the county seat at Timișoara. It is the westernmost and the largest county in Ro ...
was renamed
Traian Vuia
Traian Vuia or Trajan Vuia (; 17 August 1872 – 3 September 1950) was a Romanian inventor and List of aviation pioneers, aviation pioneer who designed, built, and tested the first tractor configuration, tractor monoplane. He was the first to de ...
after his death.
Timișoara International Airport Traian Vuia (TSR),
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
's third largest airport, carries his name. High schools in
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
,
Craiova
Craiova (, also , ) is the largest city in southwestern Romania, List of Romanian cities, the seventh largest city in the country and the capital of Dolj County, situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia.
It i ...
,
Făget,
Focșani,
Galați
Galați ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the river Danube. and the sixth-larges ...
,
Oradea
Oradea (, , ; ; ) is a city in Romania, located in the Crișana region. It serves as the administrative county seat, seat of Bihor County and an economic, social, and cultural hub in northwestern Romania. The city lies between rolling hills on ...
,
Reșița
Reșița (; ; ; ; ; ; ) is a city in western Romania and the capital of Caraș-Severin County. It is located in the Banat region. The city had a population of 58,393 in 2021. It administers six villages: Câlnic (''Kölnök''), Cuptoare (''Kupt ...
,
Satu Mare
Satu Mare (; ; ; or ) is a city with a population of 102,400 (2011). It is the capital of Satu Mare County, Romania, as well as the centre of the Satu Mare metropolitan area. It lies in the region of MaramureÈ™, broadly part of Transylvania ...
,
Târgu Jiu
Târgu Jiu (, is the capital city, capital of Gorj County in the Oltenia region of Romania. It is situated on the Southern Sub-Carpathian Mountains, Carpathians, on the banks of the river Jiu (river), Jiu. Eight localities are administered by the ...
, and
Tăuții-Măgherăuș
Tăuții-Măgherăuș () is a town in Maramureș County, Romania. The town administers six villages: Băița (''Láposbánya''), Bozânta Mare (''Nagybozinta''), Bușag (''Buság''), Merișor, Nistru (''Miszbánya''), and Ulmoasa (''Szilas''). Tă ...
are named after him, and so is a boulevard in Galați and streets in Bucharest,
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...
, Galați,
Hunedoara
Hunedoara (; ; ) is a municipiu, city in Hunedoara County, Transylvania, Romania. It is located in southwestern Transylvania near the Poiana Ruscă Mountains, and administers five villages: Boș (''Bós''), Groș (''Grós''), Hășdat (''Hosdát ...
,
Otopeni
Otopeni () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, neighbouring the north of Bucharest along the DN1 road to Ploiești. It has 21,750 inhabitants, of which 99.0% are ethnic Romanians. One village, Odăile, is administered by the city.
H ...
,
Suceava
Suceava () is a Municipiu, city in northeastern Romania. The seat of Suceava County, it is situated in the Historical regions of Romania, historical regions of Bukovina and Western Moldavia, Moldavia, northeastern Romania. It is the largest urban ...
, and
Timișoara
Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...
.
Gallery
File:Vuia I - 1906 (3).png,
File:Vuia I - 1906 (4).png,
File:Vuia II - 1907.png,
File:Vuia II - 1907 (2).png,
File:Vuia 1920.png,
See also
*
History of aviation
The history of aviation spans over two millennia, from the earliest innovations like kites and attempts at tower jumping to Supersonic speed, supersonic and hypersonic flight in powered, heavier-than-air flight, heavier-than-air jet aircraft. ...
*
List of aviation pioneers
Aviation pioneers are people directly and indirectly responsible for the creation and advancement of human flight capability, including people who worked to achieve manned flight before the invention of aircraft, as well as others who achieved si ...
*
Early flying machines
Early may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Early, Iowa, a city
* Early, Texas, a city
* Early Branch, a stream in Missouri
* Early County, Georgia
* Fort Early, Georgia, an early 19th century fort
Music
* Early B, stage name of Jamaican d ...
*
Alberto Santos-Dumont
Alberto Santos-Dumont (self-stylised as Alberto Santos=Dumont; 20 July 1873 – 23 July 1932) was a Brazilian aeronaut, sportsman, inventor, and one of the few people to have contributed significantly to the early development of both lighter-t ...
*
Clement Ader
*
Du Temple Monoplane
*
Richard Pearse
*
Gustave Whitehead
Gustave Albin Whitehead (born Gustav Albin Weisskopf; 1 January 1874 – 10 October 1927) was a German–American aviation pioneer. Between 1897 and 1915, he designed and built gliders, flying machines, and engines. Controversy surrounds publish ...
*
John Joseph Montgomery
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
Patents of Trajan Vuiaon Espace net.
on Early aviators.
Century of flight.
The Traian Vuia 1on historicwings.com.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vuia, Traian
1872 births
1950 deaths
People from TimiÈ™ County
Romanian Austro-Hungarians
Romanian engineers
Romanian aerospace engineers
Romanian inventors
Romanian aviators
Romanian socialists
Aviation history of Romania
Aviation inventors
Aviation pioneers
Honorary members of the Romanian Academy
Burials at Bellu Cemetery
Romanian emigrants to France
Romanian participants in the French Resistance