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Elena Caragiani-Stoenescu – Romania

  • First Female Pilot
Elena Caragiani-Stoenescu

Elena Caragiani-Stoenescu (1887 – 1929) was the daughter of doctor Caragiani and Zenia Radovici. She was interested in flying and considered flying as a field specialist like her brother, Lieutenant Andrei Popovici.

Her first flight took place in 1912, riding with her teacher, Mircea Zorileanu, holder of a French pilot license. She entered the League of Aviation, a flying school run by Prince George Valentin Bibescu, as the only female student, which aroused indignation. Her teachers, Constantine Fotescu Captain Capsa and Mircea Nicu Zorileanu, taught her on “Farman”, “Wright” or “Santos Dumont” airplanes. Upon completing the courses, she applied to receive a pilot license at the Ministries of Education and Civil Defense but her application was rejected by Spiru Haret and General Crainiceanu. She decided to go to France. She joined the School of Civil Aviation of Mourmelon le Grand led by Roger Sommer. She passed all the exams and received her pilot license when she was 27 years old.

Her home country did not allow her to participate to airshows. She became a reporter for a major French daily newspaper, traveling to the Caribbean, Mexico or South America, then a war correspondent for Press Trust of Mexico. When Romania entered the war, in 1916, Elena asked to participate as a pilot to defend the country or to carry wounded in hospitals. Her request was denied. She became a Red Cross nurse in a hospital in Bucharest.

After the withdrawal of troops, she and her sister established a health clinic in Tecuci. She met and married Virgil Stoenescu, a lawyer, with whom she settled in Paris. She continued to work as a journalism in France, Mexico, USA, countries in Africa or Asia, and specialized in reporting on air events.

1910 - 1919
July 24, 2015 Centennial Team

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