One of these pioneers was Henri August, who built and flew the first Romanian glider. After he experimented with small-scale models during the second half of 1907 and early months of 1908, he completed a full-scale glider by the spring of 1909.

These more or less successful experiments led to the eventual development of the "Vlaicu 1" and "Vlaicu 2" aircraft, which made its first flight in April 1911.

Other pioneers also experimented with various designs during this period. Emil Maldarescu, a college professor, conceived and built a two-seat biplane between 1910 and 1911, but it never took off as he didn't have the money to buy a suitable engine. Also in 1910, engineer Tache Brumarescu built an airplane named "Columba". It was a single-seat sesquiplane, powered by 50 HP engine. Its most interesting feature was the fact it had three propellers : a large one in the nose, a second propeller mounted horizontally above the forward fuselage and a third propeller mounted in the tail. All three propellers were driven by the same engine. "Columba" was displayed at Paris during the International Aviation Saloon of 1911, but was eventually destroyed in an accident in May 1911. Another engineer, Corneliu Marinescu built the first Romanian combat aircraft in 1911. Nicknamed "Lacusta" ( The Locust ), it was a three-seat monoplane destined for bombing missions. Pilot and observer sat above the fuselage, whilst the bomber was hanging on underneath. During 1911, some tests were carried out at Cotroceni airfield, but the army wasn't interested and no orders were placed, so the plane remained in a hangar until 1916, when it was captured by German troops and sent to Germany.

It seems that there were even plans for improving the airplane and mass-production, as work on the "Nr.2" aircraft had already begun by late July 1914, while the French test pilot Herbster sent a letter to Gramaticescu's mother suggesting that Romania should consider the possibility of establishing its first aircraft factory, where the "Gramaticescu Nr.2" plane could be mass-produced. Unfortunately, after the outbreak of World War I, the project was abandoned.

The first official "aircraft factory" was established in 1910, when at the workshops of the Chitila airfield ( near Bucharest ) four Farman IV biplanes were manufactured and handed over to the Military Flying School, who used for pilot training.

When WW1 erupted, the Romanian airforce, officially designated as Aeronautica Regala Romana ( The Romanian Royal Aeronautics, abbreviated as ARR ) was still in its infancy. Romania was initially neutral, but eventually entered the war on the Allied side. The aircraft dispatched from France and Britain as part of the military assistance program were assembled and repaired and the General Depot of the Aeronautics, situated near the city of Iasi. Between 1917 and 1918, a total of 242 planes and 545 aircraft engines were assembled, repaired and maintained on a regular basis.

After the war, the main repair and maintenance facilities were redesignated as Arsenalul Aeronauticii ( The Aeronautics Arsenal ) and moved to Bucharest. It was then decided to start production of the Hansa Brandenburg CI trainers, after large numbers of these reliable biplanes had been captured by Romanian troops during their victorious campaign of 1919 against Hungary ( the campaign had ended with the occupation of Hungary's capital, Budapest ). Production begun in early 1922, and by 1924, 120 Hansa Brandenburg's had been delivered. They were the main basic trainers in aviation schools in the 1920's, with some survivors remaining in service until the late 1930's.

Unfortunately, Bothezat was eventually forced to give up its experiments due to lack of funds, though the results had been more than promising. Another Romanian helicopter project was the work of another engineer, Partenie Crisan. He started to work on its design in 1933, but again due to lack of funding wasn't able to complete the prototype until 1935, and even then he still didn't have an engine. Eventually, with the help of Comandor Celereanu he was given a worn-out Siemens-Halstske engine, which could turn out 100 HP.

In the end, work had to be abandoned and what could have been Romania's first helicopter was forgotten in a hangar at the Brasov-Ghimbav airfield. It seems that another inventor, Comandor Cristea Constantinescu also designed a helicopter and built a couple of small-scale models between 1934 and 1938, but once again the "Ministry of Air and Navy" wasn't interested and his "CO-1" and "CO-2" projects never made it to prototype stage.

Although in the early 20's the ARR was the largest and best equipped airforce in the eastern Europe, thanks to the many planes they had been able to purchase at a good price from oversized French war stocks, there was a real desire within aviation-related circles to establish a real aircraft industry in Romania. Therefore, in 1922, the first aircraft engine produced entirely in Romania was completed at the ASTRA factory, near the Transylvanian city of Arad, and in 1923 an aircraft manufacturing facility was established as well. The first design to emerge from here was the ASTRA-Sesefschi two-seat biplane, which was produced in limited numbers. Its was powered by a 250 HP inline Martha-Benz engine, and could reach a top speed of 185 km/h with ceiling of 5500 meters.

However, it was not until the mid 1920's that Romania could firmly establish a mature and capable aeronautical industry. The middle of that decade saw the appearance of two from the three Romanian main aircraft producers : the SET factory, founded in 1924 in the capital, Bucharest, and, in 1927, the IAR company, based near the Transylvanian city of Brasov. One year later, a course in aerodynamics was taught for the first time at the Bucharest Technical School, by engineer Elie Carafoli. In 1932, the last of the "three giants", the ICAR factory, was established at the outskirts of Bucharest. Also that year, a small wind tunnel was built at the Bucharest Technical School, to improve study capabilities.

These aircraft manufacturing centers went on to dominate the Romanian aeronautical industry for the next 25 years : they survived the great economic crisis of the early 30's, escaped the bombing raids of WW2, and kept building planes right until a few years after the war. But it was the postwar Communist puppet regime that killed the Romanian aeronautical industry at the request of its Soviet masters. The factories were plundered by the Soviet occupants, switched to producing anything else but aircraft, or ( as it happened with the IAR ) literally demolished and sent piece by piece to the Soviet Union.

During their life span, many types of planes emerged from the Romanian factories : civilian or military, domestic designs or foreign aircraft built under license, more or less successful, these planes are nevertheless part of aviation history, and their story is worth telling.