Bomber Pilot

Born: 1920

Units:

• 1 May 1943 - 14 October 1944: 78th Bomber Squadron
• 15 October 1944 - 12 May 1945: 1st Bomber Group

Combat missions: 43

Victories: -

Decorations:

• Virtutea Aeronautica Order Gold Cross class

War episode:

On 2 May 1945 lt. av. Constantinescu had brought an aircraft from Miskolc to Brasov for repairs. 12 days later, on 14 May he was in a Bristol Blenheim Mk. I, which was bringing a group of four officers back to Miskolc. The weather was fine and the sky was clear. He noticed that there was something going on and asked the pilot, lt. av. Tiberiu Popescu, what was happening. The pilot told him that the oil conduct on the left engine had broken and the oil was leaking out. The engine will function only for 2 or 3 minutes more. They turned back towards the Cluj airfield. But the airplane did not make it that far, and the pilot had tried to make a forced landing on a field. He lost control and it crashed. The pilot died instantly. A train was passing near the crash site. Two doctors gave immediate assistance to the wounded, but only lt. Constantinescu eventually survived.

Died: July 2007, Bucharest