Stasys Girėnas (known as Stanley T. Girenas in the US; born Stasys Girskis; October 4, 1893 in Vytogala,

Kovno Governorate Kovno Governorate ( rus, Ковенская губеpния, r=Kovenskaya guberniya; lt, Kauno gubernija) or Governorate of Kaunas was a governorate ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. Its capital was Kaunas (Kovno in Russian). It was formed ...

– July 17, 1933 near Soldin, Germany) was a

Lithuanian-American Lithuanian Americans refers to American citizens and residents who are Lithuanian and were born in Lithuania, or are of Lithuanian descent. New Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has the largest percentage of Lithuanian Americans (20.8%) in the United ...

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

, who died in a non-stop flight attempt with the ''

Lituanica ''Lituanica'' was a Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker airplane flown from the United States across the Atlantic Ocean by Lithuanian pilots Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas in 1933. After successfully flying 6,411 km (4,043 miles), it crashed, ...

'' from New York City to

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

, Lithuania, in 1933.

Biography

Girenas was born in Vytogala, in the Šilalė district of Lithuania, then part of the

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. In 1910, when he was 17 years old, he emigrated to the United States, and settled in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. As a young man he worked in a printing house. In 1917, upon the entry of the U.S. into

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he enlisted in the United States Army, where he was trained as a mechanic. In 1919, after being

honorably discharged A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and the ...

, he worked as a cab driver, and at the same time learned to fly. He acquired a plane in 1925. Despite being injured in an air crash, he continued flying and working in civil aviation. In 1931 he won the first prize at the Chicago Air Festival for the best landing of a plane with its engine turned off.

Death

On July 15, 1933, along with

Steponas Darius Steponas Darius (known as Stephen Darius in the US; born Steponas Jucevičius-Darašius; January 8, 1896 – July 17, 1933) was a Lithuanian American pilot, who died in a non-stop flight attempt in the ''Lituanica'' from New York City to Kaunas ...

, he attempted a nonstop flight from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, to

, Lithuania - a total of , in a

Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker The Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker was a six-seat utility aircraft, built primarily in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. It was a development of the Bellanca CH-200, fitted with a more powerful engine and, like the CH-200, soon became renowne ...

airplane named ''

''. After successfully crossing the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

in 37 hours and 11 minutes, their plane crashed on July 17, 0:36 AM (Berlin Time) by the village of Kuhdamm, near Soldin, Germany (now Pszczelnik,

Myślibórz County __NOTOC__ Myślibórz County ( pl, powiat myśliborski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship (a voivodeship, or province that is found in northwestern Poland along the German bord ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

). Difficult weather conditions combined with engine defects were the findings of the official investigation. Both aviators were killed in the crash. They had covered a distance of without landing, only short of their final destination.

Awards and honors

* In New York City, in 1957, the fliers were memorialized with a granite flagstaff showing the pair in bas-relief. The monument is located in Lithuania Square, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.Dotting the Parks, Monuments to the Famous or Forgotten, by Lisa W Foderaro, 12 January 2014, New York Times * Asteroid 288961 Stasysgirėnas, discovered by astronomers Kazimieras Černis and

Justas Zdanavičius This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit ...

in 2004, was named in his memory. The official was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

on June 9, 2017 ().

Gallery

File:Steponas Darius (in cocpit) and Stasys Girėnas before Lituanica transatlantic flight in 1933 July.jpg, Girėnas (left) and

before the ''

'' transatlantic flight in 1933 File:10 litai (1993).jpg, Darius (left) and Girėnas on a Lithuanian 10 litas banknote File:Darius and Girėnas 2013 Lithuanian stamp.jpg, 2013 Lithuanian stamp

References

External links

Lithuanian Aviation Museum
Lithuanian Museum Association {{DEFAULTSORT:Girenas, Stasys 1893 births 1933 deaths People from Šilalė District Municipality People from Rossiyensky Uyezd Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States American people of Lithuanian descent Lithuanian aviators Lithuanian expatriates in Germany Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in Germany Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1933