slt. av. Dumitru Pasare

Light Bomber/Dive Bomber Pilot

Born: 28 November 1918, Chislau

Units:

• 22 June - December 1941: 18th Light Bomber Squadron
• January - 10 August 1942: 81st Light Bomber Squadron
• 10 August 1942 - 25 March 1943: 3rd Bomber Group
• 26 March 1943 - 23 August 1944: 3rd Dive Bomber Group

Combat missions: over 150

Victories: -

Decorations:

• Virtutea Aeronautica Order Knight class

War episode:

Slt. av. Pasare's first mission as formation leader was on 1 November 1943. Lt. av. Tudor Andrei, the 73rd Squadron's CO, was on leave and he had to lead the squadron's Stukas into battle. Early in the morning the six Ju-87Ds took off and headed to the Perekop Isthmus at an altitude of 1,000 m. As they arrived over the target area, the dive-bombers lined up for attack. Because the Soviet and Axis lines were very close to each other, they released the bombs at 600 m for higher precision. After recovering from the dive, the Stukas headed back to base under the escort of four Bf-109s.

He is presently living in Brasov.

@ 2002-2004