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Pilot profiles
cpt. av. Horia Agarici
lt. av. Florin Alexiu
lt. av. Tudor Andrei
lt. av. Titus Axente
lt. av. Mircea "Gicu" Badulescu
lt. cdor. av. Corneliu Batacui
slt. av. Constantin Balta
adj. av. Mihai Belcin
lt. av. Emil Boian
lt. av. Romulus Bucsa
cpt. av. (r) Constantin "Bâzu" Cantacuzino
adj. av. Dumitru Chera
lt. av. Serghei Ciachir
lt. av. Ioan Cioroiu
slt. av. Vasile Claru
adj. av. Nicolae Cojocaru
cpt. av. Petre Coles
lt. av. Decebal "Desi" Constantinescu
cdor. av. George Davidescu
adj. av. Traian Dârjan
cpt. av. Dumitru Deica
cpt. av. (r) Ioan Dicezare
lt. av. Ion Dobran
lt. av. Gheorghe Dobrescu
lt. av. Constantin Dragomir
cpt. av. Boris Ferderber
adj. sef av. Spridon Focsaneanu
lt. av. Ioan Galea
lt. av. Vasile Gavriliu
slt. av. Rene Gânescu
slt. av. Costin Georgescu
lt. av. Emil Georgescu
lt. av. Gheorghe "Gâga" Georgescu
cpt. av. Marin Ghica
lt. av. Teodor Greceanu
lt. av. Eusebie Hladiuc
adj. maj. av. Dumitru Ilie
lt. av. Gabriel Ionescu
adj. maj. av. Petre Ionescu-Conta
adj. stg. av. Aurelian Livovschi
of. ec. cls. III Ioan Maga
lt. av. Tanase Mancu
cpt. av. Alexandru Manoliu
adj. av. Ioan Marinciu
cpt. av. Eugen "Matra" Marinescu
slt. av. Nicolae Sixtus Maxim
of. echip. cls. III av. Ion Milu
lt. av. Gheorghe Mociornita
lt. av. Lazar Munteanu
slt. av. Vasile Nasturas
lt. av. Traian "Ciocan" Nicolae
slt. av. Dumitru Pasare
adj. maj. av. (r) Vasile Pascu
lt. av. Alexandru Paun
lt. av. (r) Nicolae Polizu-Micsunesti
lt. av. Horia Pop
cpt. av. Gheorghe Popescu-Ciocanel
adj. av. Victor Popescu
lt. cdor. av. Alexandru "Popicu" Popisteanu
cpt. av. Eusebie Popovici
cpt. av. Traian Popteanu
cpt. av. Ion Profir
adj. sef av. Stefan "Grecu" Pucas
cpt. av. Craciun "Sbilt" Salajan
cpt. cdor. av. Ioan Sandu
cpt. av. Wilhelm Schmaltz
cpt. av. Dorin Sculi
adj. stg. av. (r) Niculae Sculy Logotheti
cpt. av. Alexandru Serbanescu
adj. sef av. Nicolae Stan
lt. av. Virgil "Ghinghi" Stanculescu
lt. av. Dragos Stinghe
lt. av. Dan Stoian
cpt. av. Gheorghe Stroici
cpt. av. Virgil Trandafirescu
slt. av. (r) Sorin Tulea
slt. av. Florin Vasilovschi
adj. av. (r) Tiberiu Vinca
cpt. av. Dan Vizanti
slt. av. Ion Vonica
cdor. av. George Davidescu

Picture courtesy of mr. Blanariu

Cdor. av. George Davidescu (dubbed "the Englishman", for his ellegance and calm)

Fighter Pilot

Born: 28 February 1896, Bucharest

Units:

  • 1939 - 1941: CO Air Force Officer School
  • June 1943 - 23 August 1944(?): chief of staff 1st Air Corps

Combat missions: -

Victories: -

Decorations:

  • Virtutea Aeronautica Order Gold Cross class

War episode:

Because cdor. av. Davidescu did not take part in any war mission, I decided to relate some of his inter-war exploits. He was one of the initiators and main organizer of two raids Bucharest - Cape Town and return.

The first raid was made with three ICAR M.23b training aircraft. The crews were cpt. av. Mihail Pantazi and Dumitru Ploesteanu (expedition's mechanic), lt. cdor. Alexandru Cernescu and of. ec. cl. III Max Manolescu, cpt. av. George Davidescu and of. ec. cl. III Petre Ivanovici. They left from Bucharest on 22 October 1933 and headed for Istanbul. From there they flew to Konya - Alep (Syria)-Cairo (Egypt) - Assuan - Khartoum - Malakal. There, their raid was stopped, due to technical problems, and had to return home, arriving in Bucharest on 17 November.

Picture courtesy of mr. Blanariu

14 April 1933, from left to right: Dumitru Ploesteanu, Petre Ivanovici, George Davidescu, Alexandru Cernescu, Max Manolescu, Mihail Pantazi

For the second raid they chose an airplane more suited to the task: the ICAR Universal. Max Manolescu and Petre Ivanovici (killed in a plane crash in the meantime) were replaced by cpt. cdor. av. Gheorghe Jienescu and cpt. av. Gheorghe Olteanu. The mechanic Anton Stengher also joined the expedition. They left on 14 April 1935 from Bucharest and, following the same route, arrived at Malakal on 18. From there they headed to Nairobi (Kenya) - Salisbury - Pietersburg - Johannesburg - Kimberly - Cape Town. They landed at their final destination on 25 April. Five days later they started their return journey and, on 25 May, they entered Romanian airspace, being escorted by 9 ARR Potez XXVs. At Baneasa airfield a huge crowd had gathered to greet them, as well as many VIPs. Later that day, they were taken to the Royal Palace, where they were awarded the "Virtutea Aeronautica" Order Gold Cross class for their achievement.

Died: 1972, Bucharest

 

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