Steponas Darius (known as Stephen Darius in the US; born Steponas Jucevičius-Darašius; January 8, 1896 – July 17, 1933) was a

Lithuanian American Lithuanian Americans refers to Americans, American citizens and residents who are Lithuanians, Lithuanian and were born in Lithuania, or are of Lithuanian descent. New Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has the largest percentage of Lithuanian Americans ...

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 in 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 crash ...

'' 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 Tra ...

, Lithuania, in 1933.

Biography

Born in Rubiškės, in the

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 ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, 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 th ...

, Darius immigrated to the US with his family in 1907. In 1917 he joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, after the United States entered

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, and changed his name to Darius. He served as a telephone operator in the 149th Field Artillery Regiment, fought in France, was wounded and received the

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

medal. In 1920, he returned to Lithuania and joined the

Lithuanian Army The Lithuanian Armed Forces () are the military of Lithuania. The Lithuanian Armed Forces consist of the Lithuanian Land Forces, the Lithuanian Naval Force and the Lithuanian Air Force. In wartime, the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service ( ...

, graduating from

War School of Kaunas War School of Kaunas ( lt, Kauno karo mokykla) was a military school for junior officers in Kaunas, the temporary capital of Lithuania. It was established in January 1919 during the Lithuanian Wars of Independence copying the example of Russian 4- ...

in 1921. He participated in the

Klaipėda Revolt The Klaipėda Revolt took place in January 1923 in the Klaipėda Region (also known as the Memel Territory or ). The region, located north of the Neman River, was detached from East Prussia, German Empire by the Treaty of Versailles and became a ...

of 1923. While living in Lithuania he completed pilot training. In 1927 he returned to the United States and started working in civil aviation. He initially formed South Bend Airways in partnership with Carl G. Jordan of

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...

. Their fleet consisted of a

Pheasant H-10 The H-10 Pheasant was a tandem-seat conventional landing gear-equipped biplane with fabric covering, built in 1928 by the Pheasant Aircraft Company to compete in the crowded market of barnstorming biplanes. The company dissolved shortly after ...

and an Eaglerock Long Wing, both powered by OX-5 engines of World War I vintage. He lived for a while in the Jordan household prior to moving to Chicago. While living in Lithuania he actively promoted various sports. He initiated building of first stadium in

; it was later was named after him – the S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium. He played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

, and practiced

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

, while also being an international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

, having played for

Lithuania national football team The Lithuania national football team ( lt, Lietuvos nacionalinė futbolo rinktinė) represents Lithuania in international football and is controlled by the Lithuanian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Lithuania. They p ...

in its first competitive game against

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

on June 23, 1923. He was also part of Lithuania's squad for the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIIe olympiade) and also known as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The op ...

, but he did not play in any matches. Since he was the first to publish booklets about basketball and baseball, he is considered to have brought those sports to Lithuania. He was also the first chairman of Lithuanian Physical Education Union, and a founder of ''Sporto Žurnalas'' (''Sports Magazine'').

Death

On July 15, 1933, along with Stasys Girėnas, he attempted a nonstop flight from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, United States to

, Lithuania – a total of , in a

Bellanca CH-300 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 ...

Pacemaker 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#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

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

Myślibórz Myślibórz (pronounced ; german: Soldin; csb, Żôłdzëno) is a town in northwestern Poland, in West Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is the capital of the Powiat of Myślibórz (powiat myśliborski), with a population of 11,867. It is home to th ...

area,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

), most probably because of difficult weather conditions combined with engine problems. Both aviators were killed in the crash. They had covered a distance of without landing, and were only short of their destination.

Awards and honors

* A monument to Darius and Girėnas is located in the northeast corner of Marquette Park in Chicago. * Asteroid 288960 Steponasdarius, discovered by Kazimieras Černis and Justas Zdanavičius 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 (). *The

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Liberty Ship Liberty ships were a ship class, class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost constr ...

was named in his honor.

Gallery

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

'' transatlantic flight in 1933 July 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

Palwaukee Airport (Wheeling, Illinois) featured on Lithuanian banknote
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darius, Steponas 1896 births 1933 deaths People from Klaipėda District Municipality People from Rossiyensky Uyezd Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States American people of Lithuanian descent United States Army soldiers United States Army personnel of World War I Lithuanian Army officers Lithuanian aviators Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in Germany Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1933 Lithuanian footballers Lithuania international footballers Olympic footballers of Lithuania Footballers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Association football goalkeepers