WorldWar2.ro
Romanian Armed Forces
in the Second World War
Home + Organization + OoB + Aeronautics + Weapons + Decorations
Military Operations + Generals + Memoirs, Journals + Media + WW1 + Forum
Romana English
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
cpt. av. Traian Popteanu

Seaplane Pilot

Born: 7 April 1912, Margau, Cluj county

Units:

  • 22 June 1941 - 1 June 1944: 102nd Seaplane Squadron
  • 1 June 1944 - 9 May 1945: Civil Aviation Department, Ministry of the Air

Combat missions: over 76

Victories: N/A

Decorations:

  • Virtutea Aeronautica Order Knight class
  • Coroana Romaniei Order Knight class

Died: 4 January 1997, Constanta

War episode:

While on patrol over the Black Sea, sometime between autumn 1941 and spring of 1942, the S.62 bis seaplane flown by lt. av. Traian Popteanu came across a Soviet convoy. He attacked it with the on board 7.7 mm machine-guns and, as it was engaged in the fighting, it was hit by AA artillery from the ships. This resulted in a hole of approximately one square meter in one of the wings and a leaky fuel tank. Lt. av. Popteanu struggled to get the seaplane back to friendly lines and managed to set it on the water in the port of Sulina, saving the aircraft and the crew. For this action, he later received the "Virtutea Aeronautica" Order Gold Cross class with two bars. At the time he had flown 76 missions over the sea.

Picture courtesy of mr. Mihai Popteanu

Lt. av. Traian Popteanu wearing the "Virtutea Aeronautica" Order Gold Cross class

Picture courtesy of mr. Mihai Popteanu

Lt. av. Traian Popteanu and slt. av. Franklin Petrescu in front of their He-114 in 1942

Author: Victor Nitu
Sources:

Information provided by Mr. Mihai Popteanu

Royal Decree 1934/1 July 1942

 Top
User Comments Add Comment
There are no comments for this article