Doru Davidovici



Doru Davidovici (1945–1989), was an aviator and writer. Born in Romania in a Jewish family, Doru Davidovici became one of the most loved Romanian fiction writers in the 1980s. During the communist years, his books gave an unusual sense of liberty and new horizons by describing the experience of flying, and the closeness it forged - both between pilots, and between pilots and their machines. The plane is seen by Davidovici not simply as a machine that enables one to fly but as an actual character, with its own personality and almost with its own soul.

His work is influenced by writers like Ray Bradbury, Radu Tudoran and Bertolt Brecht. The titles include The Horses of Voroneţ (1974), The Colour of the Sky (1981), Silver Wings (1983) and Rise and Walk (1989).

Keeping a sense of proportion, it is reasonable to draw a parallel between Davidovici and the French aviator and writer Antoine de Saint Exupéry. They both found a source of literary inspiration in their profession, and they both died, at about the same age, flying a fighter plane.

Beside his narrative work, Doru Davidovici is known for his essay on the UFOs, My colleagues from the unknown. Here Davidovici regards, once again through his pilot eyes, the UFOs and the issues raised by their presumed existence.

Doru Davidovici lost his life together with Dumitru Petra on 20 April 1989 during landing procedures while flying his MiG-21 from a training flight back home to RoAF 86th Air Base.