Elena Caragiani-Stoenescu: Google doodle marks 135th Birthday of first woman aviator in Romania

To celebrate Elena Caragiani-Stoenescu a high-flying reporter, Google doodle on May 13. She was a war correspondent and the first licensed woman aviator in Romania. Elena Caragiani-Stoenescu made her first flight in 1912 with a Wright plane specially brought to the country for pilot training, accompanied by his riding teacher her brother-in-law, Andrei Popovici, future general of aviation.

Elena Caragiani-Stoenescu was born on May 13th, 1887 in Tecuci, Romania. At the age of 25, she flew for the first time in a plane piloted by her former horse-riding instructor. Later that year, she enrolled in the League of Aviation, a Romanian flying school. As the only female student in the school, her civil pilot license was rejected by the Ministries of Education and Civil Defense despite her completion of all courses.

Undeterred, Caragiani-Stoenescu joined the Civil Aviation School in France. At the age of 27, she received her pilot license, the 12th international license granted to a woman and the first for a Romanian woman. Romania didn’t allow her to participate in airshows, so Caragiani-Stoenescu became a reporter for a French daily newspaper, flying for long-distance trips to the Caribbean and South America. She also worked as a war correspondent for the Press Trust of Mexico.

After Romania entered into World War I, she requested to participate as a pilot but was again denied. Caragiani-Stoenescu worked as a Red Cross nurse in Bucharest, Romania for the duration of the war. She later established a health clinic in Tecuci and worked as a journalist around the world focusing on airline events.

Today, a high school in Caragiani-Stoenescu’s birthplace bears her name and she is commonly studied in Romanian aviation courses.

Happy 135th Birthday Elena Caragiani-Stoenescu! Your determination and legacy have inspired women to soar to new heights.

Source: Google doodles

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