Proto 1 was a training biplane designed by Major Ștefan Protopopescu in collaboration with Dumitru Baziliu and Gheorghe Ticău at

Arsenalul Aeronautic Arsenalul Aeronautic ("Aeronautical Arsenal" in English) in Bucharest was the first factory with an aeronautical profile in Romania. Its activity took place between 1919 and 1939. ''Arsenalul Aeronautic'' manufactured three models of aircraft: Han ...

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

in 1922. It was the first Romanian airplane to be built in a specialized enterprise. The first experimental flights were carried out by its designer, Ștefan Protopopescu, who held the Romanian pilot licence No.1. Protopopescu face-to-face with his cartoon portrait

Protopopescu face-to-face with his cartoon portrait

Production

The Ministry of War ordered 25 aircraft on 10 January 1923 of this type from the ''

Fabrica de avioane Astra The Astra Aircraft Factory ( ro, Fabrica de avioane Astra) in Arad was the second Romanian factory to build aircraft. Its activity took place between 1923 and 1925, producing four models of aircraft: '' Astra-Șeșefschi'', Proto 1, Proto 2 and ...

''. The Astra Factory changed the wings on its own initiative, which reduced the strength of the wings, and during an early test flight, one of the wings broke and the aircraft crashed into the

Mureș river Mureș may refer to: * Mureș County, Romania * Mureș (river) in Romania and Hungary (''Maros'') * Mureș culture, a Bronze Age culture from Romania See also * Târgu Mureș, the capital of Mureș County * Ocna Mureș Ocna Mureș (; la, Sali ...

, killing the test pilot. After the accident, production of Proto 1 aircraft was halted and improvements were made to the design, after which Astra manufactured a new variant as the

Proto 2 Proto 2 is the name of the $55 million initiative of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, to create a thought-controlled prosthetic arm. Its predecessor was called Proto 1 and was capable of reasonably complicated movements like ...

Specifications

References

{{Reflist Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1922 Ștefan Protopopescu 1920s Romanian military aircraft Biplanes