"Bazu" Cantacuzino fighter planes profiles, Color profiles of "Bazu" mounts .

The answer is : YES. Because after heavy loses from american raids the group planes were mixed no matter what squadron. He flew also planes with three digits on the fin starting with number 2. And in the late august flew Bf109 G6 with wnr. starting with 166 ( no fuselage number).


Dan.

Another sport hobby of Cantacuzino was motorbikes racing prior WWII.
But he used his skills also for airfields trips.
Below Bazu with BMW ( or Zundapp) on western front.( courtesy Razvan Bujor)
Dan.


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What is interesting for fabric cover planes was impact explosion bullets were not so much danger for them only incendiary tracers bullets could set on fire.

Dan.

Indeed, Dan, the Hurricane was generally a very sturdy machine ( and my favorite fighter of WWII ) much stronger then the Spitfire and the Messerchmitt. It was used in the cold of Northern Russia and in the Desert of Africa. It was used in field hopping such as the French campaign of 1940 and on aircraft carriers where it could withstand the heavy impact of carrier landings.
Are there any records that would tie a particular airframe number and markings to one of Bazu's Hurricane victories?
Artur

No Artur, unfortunetly i don't have such info. The only number found in documents Huricane flown by Bazu was "4" . But with the same plane number " 4" lost his life Cpt.Rosescu Ioan. At that time Bazu didn't have a personal plane. It was not a squadron leader.

Dan.

I have heard that the reason for Bâzu leaving his 109 in Italy was not the fuel, but rather the one in the photo below.


Originally posted by C-2.

.I have heard that the reason for Bâzu leaving his 109 in Italy was not the fuel, but rather the one in the photo below.

Good photo. I did not see it before. I wonder if it was the fuel, the huge American flag on the side ( which could have been painted out with some USAAF issue Olive Drab and Neutral Gray ) or the collapsed tailwheel. I wonder what ever happened to this plane afterwards?
Artur

The story I know is that one American pilot wanted really bad to try the plane, being convinced that he could handle it. But not knowing the finesses of piloting the 109, he damaged the landing gear (whether this was during take off or at landing I cannot remember). The fuel myth was invented to hide the truth.

The American flag was painted in Romania, before the plane left for Italy.

The American flag was painted in Romania, before the plane left for Italy.

I know that, but what I was getting at is that if Bazu flew the same plane back it would not get the same reception from the Germans, which I understand were still there when he flew the mission.

Artur

Artur, Bazu was a fighter pilot prepared any time to fight ( no matter who were the enemies) His Messerschmitt for Foggia was loaded with ammunition.
When he came back with the Mustang he got out from the formation ( 31FG escort) and checked the guns of his P-51 ( in case some germans appear) he was satisfied when he discover the americans gave him the plane loaded with amunition.

Dan.

This post has been edited by Cantacuzino on February 14, 2005 04:07 pm

When Bâzu left Romania with that large US flag on his plane the Germans were still there so I cannot see why the return would have been more difficult than the departure. I would think that the actual return in an American plane was even more dangerous since the silhouette of the Mustang would have immediately been recognised by the Germans as an enemy plane than that of a 109.

Anyhow, as Cantacuzino mentioned, Bâzu was a very good fighter pilot and as it was proven there was no problem for him to fly either plane in those troubled days.

There were specific reasons Bazu was given a P-51 for to return in formation with other P-51's rather than ME-109...... formation led by a US ARMY AF Col. who had the order to shot Bazu down should abything go wrong at Pipera Airfield prior landing.....On the other hand good pilot skills and good knowledge is not enough for a pilot to just jump in the cockpit and fly a new type of an airplane with different performance ,characteristics and different switches just like this.

From what I hearc from those who have the records at Maxwell AFB who were close with Col Gunn III...Bazu had one day of training on the P-51 cockpit and touch and goes at Foggia with a local senior pilot.

Finally, I am not sure that the avgas octane available with 15th AF at Foggia would be equivalent with this for ME-109 nor if could have been provided by the Americans on short notice.

Alex

No matter the reasons for not flying the Bf 109 back, what is for sure Bazu for long time wanted to fly the P-51 Mustang. So i think it was happy with this ( to fly Mustang instead Bf-109 on return).

Dan.

This post has been edited by Cantacuzino on February 15, 2005 07:36 am

Many romanian pilots managed to fly new planes only with summary check of instruments board. The experience and native talents were enough for them to fly those different planes in performance but the same in instruments and control( except the american gauges who were in miles ) .

Dan.

Below it's a fragment from the book "Mustang Ace" by Robert Goebel with Bazu easy learning to fly the Mustang.


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Dan , I knew he had to be checked out on the P-51 , sppedsm, switches and cockpit lay out ......from Maxwell AFB in Alabama I've heard there are photos of him during training and meetings at Foggia during the 3 days he stayed overthere. I need special permission to obtain but maybe I will as I know people who served there and they may help

If you have any photos please post them

Alex