adj. av. Mihai Belcin

Fighter/Dive Bomber Pilot

Born: 12 August 1915, Cosambesti, Ialomita

Units:

• July 1940 - May 1942: 6th Fighter Group
• May - September 1942: 8th Fighter Group
• September 1942 - 26 March 1943: 6th Fighter Group
• 27 March 1943 - 31 August 1944: 3rd Dive Bomber Group

Combat missions: unknown fighter + 154 dive bomber

Victories: 1 confirmed + 1 probable

Decorations:

• Virtutea Aeronautica Order Knight class with two bars
• Eiserne Kreuz 1st class

War episode:

For several days adj. av. Mihai Belcin was constantly asked by his friend slt. Werner Metianu, the group's chief engineer, to take him on a Stuka mission. So he finally did on 22 July 1943. Slt. Metianu replaced the machine-gunner in the back seat in a mission to bomb the village of Melekhov. But soon after take off the Ju-87D3 no. 28 experienced engine problems. Because they were flying over flooded areas, adj. Belcin decided to jump, but Metianu was to afraid to do it and he renounced the idea. Through the smoke coming out of the engine he spotted a suitable place for landing and eventually managed to put it down smoothly. A German car came quickly to the site and helped them extinguish the fire, thus saving the airplane. A Luftwaffe Fi-156 picked them up and took them back to base, where lt. cdor. av. Galeno was unpleasantly surprised to see Metianu and gave them three days of detention.

He is presently living in Bucharest

@ 2002-2004