Henri Coandă spent decades insisting he had demonstrated the jet engine principle at a 1910 Paris air show, a claim that mainstream aviation historians largely rejected — the craft in question almost certainly used a conventional piston engine. Romania nonetheless embraced his version of events without reservation, and this commemorative marks the centenary of that disputed flight. The Romanian National Bank issued the coin as part of its ongoing scientist and inventor series.
Henri Coandă spent decades insisting he had demonstrated the jet engine principle at a 1910 Paris air show, a claim that mainstream aviation historians largely rejected — the craft in question almost certainly used a conventional piston engine. Romania nonetheless embraced his version of events without reservation, and this commemorative marks the centenary of that disputed flight. The Romanian National Bank issued the coin as part of its ongoing scientist and inventor series.