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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
lt. av. Ioan Galea

Picture courtesy of gen. Ioan Dobran

Lt. av. Ioan Galea in the cockpit of his Bf-109E

Fighter Pilot

Born: 30 March 1920, Pui

Units:

  • May 1942 - August 1944: 52nd Fighter Squadron
  • August 1944 - 12 May 1945: 9th Fighter Group

Combat missions: N/A

Victories: 12 confirmed + 2 probable

Decorations: N/A

War episode:

On 18 May 1944, the 52nd Squadron, which was assigned to the defense of the coastline was also thrown into the desperate battle with the 15th Air Force. They arrived a little later, because of the greater distance from their airfield to the Ploesti area. The other fighter units had already engaged the Americans. His patrulã (Romanian for Schwarm) stumbled upon a bomber formation and dived onto it. Lt. av. Galea fired on one bomber and scored several hits. He and his wingman, adj. av. Bucholtzer, attempted another attack on the same aircraft. But they were jumped by four P-38s. Then Romanians pulled right and ended up behind the Lightnings, but did not manage to approach them. The red light indicating the low level of fuel lit up. They had to return to base. On the way back they encountered a whole squadron of P-38s. Luckily they weren't spotted. But another 3 P-38s appear, which had probably lagged behind the first ones. Having an altitude advantage, as well as surprise on their side, lt. av. Galea decided to attack. They dived and fired, but adj. av. Bucholtzer's guns had jammed. The Lightning targeted by Galea caught fire and went down. The other two started to follow them, but the Romanians managed to shake them off and finally land their old Bf-109Es on the Mamaia airfield with the last drops of fuel.

Died: 8 December 1993, Bucharest

 

Profile courtesy of Bogdan Patrascu

This Bf-109E was flown by lt. av. Ioan Galea within the 52nd Fighter Squadron based at Mamaia airfield. It was the last Emil to enter service in the ARR.

Picture courtesy of gen. Ioan Dobran

On the right is Gill, lt. av. Galea's faithful companion. Amazingly, this dog totalled 47 missions, flying in the cockpit with his master

Profile courtesy of Bogdan Patrascu

The Bf-109G no. 1 red was flown by lt. av. Ioan Galea in 1945, when he was part of the 9th Fighter Group.

 

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