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A man whose name is a legend in Romania, Doru Davidovici is not however a popular figure internationally. Supersonic fighters and pilots probably know his name, and UFO enthusiasts are familiar with at least part of his biography. Men like Doru Davidovici surely deserve more than a brief mention on a Wikipedia page.

I cannot look back at my adolescence without remembering The Color of the Sky, Silver Wings, The Horses of Voronet, The Oricalc Goddess and Galactic Worlds – all works authored by Doru Davidovici. I cannot even imagine Romanian Aviation history not being inclusive of his name. Doru was a MIG-21 pilot who loved the airplane and flying so much that he treated them with utmost respect. For Doru the plane was more than a machine: it was a living entity, a fantastic creature that carried man to the unknown skies to touch the face of the gods and to meet with beings unseen by the earth-walkers.

When Doru published an essay on UFOs, “My colleagues from the unknown”, his popularity boosted for obvious reasons, and despite the skepticism such an endeavor raises, there were many who actually believed… What was not to believe when the most skilled supersonic pilot testified?

What was not to believe when the testimony came from one of the most respected Romanian writers of the time?

The jet was his altar, his church and his friend. In many of his books Doru expressed his feelings for the machine as talking about an entity with real feelings and soul, compare it with Steven King’s Christine if you will, but take out the demonic, for Doru’s planes were not demons.

It’s not uncommon for the supersonic pilots to treat their jets as more than just flying machines. The man and machine are often described as one by the supersonic pilots. When you fly in the sky the plane is the friend you depend on to carry on your mission as much as the plane depends on your skill to traverse the sky. If a pilot does not know his plane, then he might as well sign his own death note. Ask any supersonic pilot and he will tell you the same thing. I know I heard this a lot from the Romanian pilots of the 93 Air Base from Timisoara.

Doru was the kind of pilot who wouldn’t leave a plane that could still be rescued, he wouldn’t leave a “friend in need”, and it was just so that he died with his friend on April 20, 1989. So early a death not to even see his country free from communism, that social order he despised so much. The Romanian communism regime was crashed by the citizens of Romania on December 22, 1989…

How much do we know today about the writer whose work freed our hearts from communism before 1989? How much does the world know? Not much, and the authors of Rounite feel it their bound duty to invite you to see excellence reflected in the mirror of Romanian heart. Meet Doru Davidovici, the winged child of the blue…