What’s with Lithuanians and that orange airplane?

t seems that everywhere you go in Lithuania you run in to replicas of a small single engine aircraft, painted brightly orange. There is replica hanging from the ceiling at the Vilnius airport, a smaller model stands in the middle of Kaunas, the remains of original plane is on display at the national war museum, and it can even be found on one of the bank notes. It is clearly an important national symbol, but what`s the big deal?




A scale model of Lituanica in Vilnius Airport

Well, to put it short two Lithuanian aviators used this plane to fly across the Atlantic ocean in 1933. This resulted in them being among the first to do so, and as I understand, also the first Lithuanians ever to conduct a transatlantic flight. That in itself is perhaps not really an achievement worthy of commemoration almost 100 years later, since there for instance are very few monuments in honor of for instance the fist Hungarian or first Scotsman that did the same.

 

An even smaller scale model of Lituanica in Kaunas

The pilots, Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas, did however make the strategically smart move of naming their airplane Lituanica. This was well received in the then rather nationalistic Lithuanian republic. They further proceeded to crash and die after crossing the Atlantic, while on their way to Lithuania.  
 

The two aviators on the (soon to be obsolete) 10 Litas bill

The investigation that followed the crash concluded that the cause of the tragedy was mechanical problems in combination with difficult weather conditions. Even though this investigation was conducted by Lithuanian officials, I have (typically enough) yet to meet a single Lithuanian who believes this explanation. They all say: “They were shot down by the Germans”. And when I say “But there were no bullet holes in wrecked parts”, they always answer “Aaah, but the Germans did not give back all the parts”.  

Regardless of what really happened, it seems these two have a rather undisputed status as heroes. Perhaps because they died before they could do or say anything that could cast shadows over their heroic reputation. Heroes are useful in any society, and they are always less problematic if they are dead. And if Lithuanians should want to honour more of their aviators, they might consider remembering this man.