Ionel Fernic

Ionel Fernic (Romanian pronunciation: [joˈnel ˈfernik]; May 29, 1901 – July 22, 1938) was a Romanian composer, aviator (civil pilot), writer, and one of the first Romanian parachutists.^[1]

He was born in Târgoviște. His family moved to Galați, where Ionel attended the Vasile Alecsandri High School, and where he met his mentor, the Romanian composer and music teacher Theodor Fuchs, who tutored him in the arts of piano and guitar music. Being a music enthusiast, and passionate about airplanes, Ionel Fernic was guided by his parents to attend a technical faculty but he eventually decided to go to the Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in Bucharest, where he was admitted at the drama section with the highest grade average.^[1]

Although he was remarked by his teachers, Ionel did not continue his acting career despite having the opportunity to play alongside many famous Romanian actors like Aristide Demetriade, Ion Manolescu, and Mișu Fotino.^[1] He graduated in 1924, and was enrolled in the Reserve Officer School in Ploiești and remained in the city for a few years, the period when he wrote almost all of his works.

Under the guidance of professor Fuchs, Fernic composed in 1919, his last high school year, the ballad Cruce albă de mesteacăn, his first well known work.^[2] After settling in Ploiești, having an urge to create successful music, he composed a number of sentimental songs and tangos. His first tango, composed in 1931, was called Minciuna (better known by the name Pe boltă când apare luna), and was an adaptation of a French song proposed by Nicolae Kirițescu.^[2]

In just a few years, Fernic wrote over 400 sentimental and other kinds of songs.^[2] Many of his songs were hits. Starting in 1927, Fernic published a volume of sketch stories called Misterele din Mizil (written as a feuilleton).^[2] In 1928, he published a volume of poems called Prăștii and several children's books. He founded the satirical magazine Să nu te superi că te-njur, and moved to Bucharest in the early 1930s.^[2]

Fernic graduated from the Pilot School in Băneasa in the spring of 1935, and received a pilot's licence. He also made the first parachute jump in Romania on May 31, 1936, at an aviation meeting held at the Băneasa Airport in Bucharest.^[3] His last jump was at an ARPA meeting held in Izmail, Ukraine (then part of Romania) when he jumped from a height of 800 m (2,600 ft) and landed in an unmarked place where he broke his left leg, and had to use a cane for the rest of his life.^[3] He was appointed director of the Cernăuți Pilot School, and was decorated by King Carol II with the Virtutea Aeronautică medal.^[3]

Fernic lost his life in an aviation accident on July 22, 1938, at the age of 37. Hearing of the death of Queen Marie of Romania in 1938, he desperately wanted to attend her funeral.^[3] Therefore, he embarked on a LOT Polish Airlines flight on the Warsaw–Cernăuți–Bucharest–Thessaloniki route, but after half an hour the plane mysteriously broke into two pieces and crashed between Gura Humorului and Câmpulung Moldovenesc, in the Negrileasa Forest, near the Stulpicani commune in Suceava County.^[3]