Seaplane Pilot

Born: 7 April 1912, Margau, Cluj county

Units:

• 22 June 1941 - 1 June 1944: 102nd Seaplane Squadron
• 1 June 1944 - 9 May 1945: Civil Aviation Department, Ministry of the Air

Combat missions: over 76

Victories: N/A

Decorations:

• Virtutea Aeronautica Order Knight class
• Coroana Romaniei Order Knight class

Died: 4 January 1997, Constanta

War episode:

While on patrol over the Black Sea, sometime between autumn 1941 and spring of 1942, the S.62 bis seaplane flown by lt. av. Traian Popteanu came across a Soviet convoy. He attacked it with the on board 7.7 mm machine-guns and, as it was engaged in the fighting, it was hit by AA artillery from the ships. This resulted in a hole of approximately one square meter in one of the wings and a leaky fuel tank. Lt. av. Popteanu struggled to get the seaplane back to friendly lines and managed to set it on the water in the port of Sulina, saving the aircraft and the crew. For this action, he later received the "Virtutea Aeronautica" Order Gold Cross class with two bars. At the time he had flown 76 missions over the sea.

Lt. av. Traian Popteanu wearing the "Virtutea Aeronautica" Order Gold Cross class

Lt. av. Traian Popteanu and slt. av. Franklin Petrescu in front of their He-114 in 1942