Nationality Romanian Name Gheorghe Caranda | Occupation Army Officer | |
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Born April 21, 1884 ( 1884-04-21 ) Iasi, Romania Known for first Romanian plane crash casualty Died June 20, 1912, Bucharest, Romania | ||
Gheorghe Caranda was a Romanian army officer and early aviator. He registered at Cotroceni Piloting School founded by George Valentin Bibescu in 1911, and earned his pilot license in 1912.
On June 20, 1912 he crashed his biplane and died on Cotroceni field in Bucharest, thus becoming the first Romanian airplane accident fatality. The Farman III airplane was among those used at Chitila Piloting School, and reportedly had a longitudinal stability problem, and in addition the engine was under-performing on the day of the accident.
Caranda received the order "Virtutea Militara" posthumously and his name is listed first on the Romanian Airmen Heroes Memorial in Bucharest, before that of aircraft builder and pilot Aurel Vlaicu.
References
Gheorghe Caranda Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA