Bomber Pilot Ion Profir

I have heard tales of Ion Profir being the best Bomber pilot in the ARR.
He flew Heinkel 111's, and his tactic was to turn his bomber head-on into oncomming enemy fighters.
Parth of the 5th bomber group (like another pilot in my familly), he was also involved in the battle of Stalingrad, winter 42-43.

He survived the war, and would later like many pilots turn to civil aviation.

Other then that I don't have anything else about him, not even a picture..

I would like to know more, and -if he was that great as the myth surrounding him - .to see him on the list of famous pilots on www.arr.go.ro.

Was able to find some information, a story and a photo of "Matra".. Eugen Marinescu who was Bomber/Observer pilot.

it would be good add his picture to the site I mentioned above...

QUOTE

From his book "Singur pe cerul Stalingradului" (Alone on the sky of Stalingrad -- very aproximatively English translation) he escape soviet control Romania in 1945-1946 to Turkey. Latter he arrived in Paris but his high skill as a pilot was never regognised (Romania lost the war) In the begining of the 50es he commet suicide. Unfortnatly i couldn't find his grave. A copy of his book was brought in the 90es and the book was edited by Modelism. I know one picture with him in the copkit of a He 111 H, published in the Modelism book about the Romanian Aeronautics.

I wonder who is the person that brought the copy to Rpmania.

Bm

For photos of Ion Profir try this thread:
http://www.worldwar2.ro/forum/viewtopic.php?p=13559
courtesy of Regal Uniforma Collector

I have been trying to gather more info on Ion Profir brfore adding him to the list, but will do it at the next update.

Other photos with the Profir-Teodoru crew, published in the Aripi Romanesti magazine
-in no. 2/1942

-in no. 8/1943 (Profir is smiling )

Neat Photographs. Great smile ( ) by Profir and Co-Pilot.
Do you think these two pictures were taken on separate flights?
Profir seems to be dressed differently in the first imagen then in the second. He also looks a bit older in the second.. 1943? not 1942, could it be?

"Aripi Romanesi" I have a song called like that! A military song, - it's 975kb, if i can fit it in the mailbox, i'll send it you. :ro:

There are definately diferent missions, but both from the September 1942 - February 1943 Stalingrad campaign, because IIRC Teodoru (the observer) was KIA.

I am presently working on his profile for the website, using mainly his memoirs as reference. However I have discovered some inaccuracies regarding dates of the events in 1941:

1. He dates the kill attributed to his crew in 1941 on 12 August, while in fact it was on 16 September.
2. He dates the death of adj. stg. av. Aurelian Livovschi on 19 August, while in fact it happened on 21 September
3. He dates the attack on a Soviet ship landing troops near Odessa on 9 September, while this episode probably happened on 22 September.

There are also some inaccuracies for the 1942 campaign regarding the dates when cpt. av. Manoliu and lt. av. Alexiu were killed.

I am wondering how exact are his recolactions in fact and if they aren't somehow exagerrated? Any thoughts?

Hi Der Maresal, i see you have an original picture with He-111 from the 5th bomber group. I' v been doing reserch for the emblems for romanian aviation groups and found that the 5th BG have a "winged bomb" emblem used on He-111 planes ( as in your picture) mayby you can scan only the emblem to a higher res. to see more clear what colors culd be. Also the crew had a similar badge on their uniform.

That is not his photo, but a scan found on the internet.
The original is an SMP photo.

Gen. Dénes

This post has been edited by Dénes on January 04, 2005 06:25 pm

Victor was the Observer Theodoru ( Navigator) killed after retreat the Roumanian troops after von Paulus 6th Germany Army fall or somewhere over Roumania or still over Soviet Union in late 1943 ? what does IIRC stands ..is this an NCO rank ? Is the person behind them radio operator or a gunner or both ?

Al

This post has been edited by alexkdl on January 04, 2005 07:25 pm

Cpt. Teodoru was shot down, according to Profir's memoirs, on 21 December 1942, when he flew on no. 32 with adj. av. Petcu, as Profir had not been feeling to well lately. He was marked by this loss, because they had become close friends.

On the He-111, the RO was also a machine-gunner and was located in the back of the cockpit in the upper part of the fuselage.

IIRC=if I remember correctly

Victor were ARR Observers reaching the rank of Captain in WWII or even above it ? any details ? Were the ARR observers trained to fly the JU-88, SIAI, DO-111 and Potez in emergency as pilots or co pilots ? Congrats for the new ARR website

Thanks
Al