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Rodrig Goliescu was a Romanian inventor, engineer and Lieutenant born on May 12, 1877 in Dorohoi (though some biographies give 1882 as his birth year). Despite his interesting contribution to aviation, his name is largely ignored by most outside of his native country. Very early Goliescu decides on a military career. His sharp mind is quickly noticed so that he quickly rises to a prominent position among the warrant officers of his unit.
Yet there is a dark side to Goliescu. The young provincial man gets carried away in the whirl of the city life: gaming, womanizing, fine restaurants are all very costly for a young warrant officier. Goliescu starts borrowing money from his gullible mates and fails to give it back. Such inappropriate behavior leads to disciplinary measures, but Goliescu enjoys his double life too much so that he starts thinking up ways of making enough money to finance his dispendious lifestyle.
Although an artillery officer, his curious mind develops an interest for aviation. He starts writing pioneering articles on the subject and builds a very original coleopter-like scale model aeroplane, which is greeted with much enthusiasm by famous education and culture minister Haret Spiru, who offers to finance the full-scale project. The model is said to take off at an angle of 30 degrees, making it arguably one of the very first STOL aircraft ever to be designed!
Goliescu travels to Germany, Britain but most of all to Paris, the Mecca of early aviation, originally to acquire an engine for his aircraft — but eventually spending there most of his time between airfields and pleasure venues such as the Moulin Rouge. In Paris Goliescu sends a study entitled "Laws of air dynamics" to the French Academy, eventually published in "La France automobile et aérienne" magazine, on May 15, 1909. He successfully demonstrates to Professor Paul Apple of the Sorbonne University his 1.2m coleopter-like model, launched from the second floor until it stabilizes and glides remarkably well. Even Gustave Eiffel is interested in Goliescu's work.
Confident that he will be successful, Goliescu builds a full-scale Avioplanul Goliescu but apparently this aircraft serves only as a full-scale mockup in support of the patent which he files on Aug 26, 1909 (patent No. 402329) and was probably not flown. Goliescu learns to fly and immediately starts construction of the all-metal Avioplanul Goliescu 2. Test-flown in November 1909 at Juvisy, south-east of Paris, the aircraft flies well and proves very maneuverable, reaching an altitude of 50 meters.
The Avioplan is not only the first airplane ever with a tubular fuselage; it is also the first ever flight of an aircraft with a tubed propeller: the originality of Goliescu's aircraft lies in the shape of its half cylinder fuselage, designed for minimum drag and acting as a tube fan (the air from the propeller is flowed through it), similar to the way the modern vertical take-off aircraft and helicopters are designed. This shape reduces drag and increases the efficiency of the propeller.
Back in his homeland the following year, Goliescu meets with various misfortunes: his test pilot dies in a car crash, and both the #2 aircraft and the hangar that hosts it get blown to pieces by a hurricane. On top of this he has to face the rising jealousy prompted by his newly-found fame and the bad reputation he has brought to his name over the years. The government money is quickly spent, and despite the aircraft's undeniable qualities, Goliescu fails to get new financing for it.
From then on, he indulges in a string of swindles by creating fake aviation companies to raise monies from his friends and acquaintances. He then tries to gain support from neighbouring Russia through the help of a very influential Russian businessman established in Bucharest. Yet it's not just Goliescu's inventive mind that attracts the Russian authorities... He is offered a position as a high-ranking Russian officer in exchange for not only the plans of his aeroplane, but also a series of secret tactical military documents. In other words, Goliescu has to become a spy for the Czar if he wants Russian backing.
Unable to provide all the required documents, Goliescu forges some of them but Russian intelligence knows better and threatens him. He tries to bribe one of his colleagues but the man is an honest patriot who denounces him. Caught in a trap, Goliescu tries to fight his way out before surrendering to the officers who have come to arrest him. He is condemned for high treason and imprisoned.
All through the First World War, he is assigned to the digging of trenches but will not be freed until the 1930s. By that time, aviation has soared and technology has made tremendous progress. Between 1932 and 1936 Goliescu test-flies his Aviocoleopter, the first aircraft to have a toroidal wing. In 1939 he tries to submit various articles to specialized press but his conceptions are dated. The genius inventor and failed spy dies in 1940, a little before his country engages in World War Two...
This article written by Stéphane Beaumort using mainly an French-language article published in Avions N°109 as a basis, plus bits of information from the internet.
Also see: http://earlyaviators.com/egoliesc.htm
