adj. sef av. Stefan "Grecu" Pucas

Fighter/Assault Pilot

Born: 25 July 1916, Cuza Voda, near Ismail

Units:

• 22 June - 20 July 1941: 8th Fighter Group
• 20 July - 10 August 1941: 59th Fighter Squadron
• 10 August 1941 - 10 May 1943: 8th Fighter Group
• 10 May 1943 - 10 October 1944: 8th Assault Group
• 11 October 1944 - 12 May 1945: 8th Assault/Dive Bomber Group

Combat missions: over 500

Victories: 6

Decorations:

• Virtutea Aeronautica Order Knight class
• Eiserne Kreuz 1st class

War episode:

On 3 July 1941, three Soviet bombers attacked the Focsani airfield. Adj. sef av. Pucas and adj. av. Nicolae Tcaci took off immediately to intercept and caught up with them near Buzau, where they also dropped several bombs, and then headed east. The two IAR-80s closed in and fired, forcing the SBs to widen their formation. Stefan Pucas went for the airplane on the extreme right, but as he was approaching it, at about 400 m, his fighter was hit by a machine-gun salvo in the wings and engine hood. He dived and fired from beneath and saw the left engine stop. The SB slowed down and started to loose altitude. He then went for the leader of the formation, while Tcaci was taking care of the third one. He fired from close range and, like the previous time, the left engine stopped and the airplane went down.

He is presently living in Bucharest

@ 2002-2004