Favorite Pilot ?

Denes, if you reffered to me...I did mention the pilots skills of Bob....he loved flying and remained as instructor with USAF long after the war. the emphasis was not on its scores but skills as pilot

Alex

No, Alex, my point was addressed to everyone, who rank a pilot solely by the number of his 'kills'.

Gen. Dénes

Then I would say G. Popescu Cioncanel he kicked major behinds, an observation pilot who transfered to fighters and attained the score of 14 aerial victories in just 3 month of combat.His career as an IAR39 pilot ni the first campaign was ipressive as well.

This post has been edited by D13-th_Mytzu on January 25, 2005 04:47 pm

Yes, I agree , I also agree regarding the downed ARR pilot comment you made...incidently do you have any coloured photo of Bazu...I never saw one !

Alex

Okey guys, let me settle that figher vs. bomber dilemma by telling you who my favorite pilots are.
There are two, and none of them are endowed with that killer instinct necessary for being a successful fighter or bomber.
Adrian Warburton and Antoine St. Exupery, both recco, pilots and both fell on duty flying recconaissance missions in the war. Both of them refused to be bombers or fighters, Warby was not even a great pilot, his landings in the Marylnad resembling "controlled crashlandings". His information was crucial for a successful bombing of Taranto harbour. He was known to fly so low next to Italian battleships so as to take a picture of their name on the hull!
St. Exupery was a wise old man who could have easily sat out the war writing books and memoirs, yet he could not stay away from flying and perished just like Warby over Europe.
I also crave a niche for successful torpedo pilots, my favorites are Tomonaga and his famous suicidal torpedo attack on the Yorktown, Commander Waldron and his sacrifice in attacking Akagi, Emanuelle Buscaglia and Patrick Gibbs dominating their respective countries in torpedo actions against each other in the Medditeranean Sea.
If I had to choose fighers I must say I am impressed greatly by the Finns, especially in the Winter War, they fought against such tremendous odds yet they held up. Juutilainen, Lukkanen and Wind are my favorites but also Pyotsia, Karhilla, Tuominen, Lampi and Katajainen.
And for Polish pilots I value Urbanowicz above all others even though he was not the top scorer, but for his humanity and his patriotism.
Artur

Arthur

You have a nice view over both pilots though allow me to correct you regarding St.Exupery....his last mission was a recon one on a P-38 and he perished at sea. There were speculations that due to his low state of mind he didnt crash but appearently commited sucide and for sure he didnt die on line of duty. Last year the P-38 remains were excavated and the suicide theory seems to get more shape, so I would scrap him to exemplify a great pilot ,except being a great writter and a average general aviation pilot eventhough he flew Aeropostal before the war ......

Al

I meant 'Favorite Romanian Pilot" , but it's ok to mention other countries if the moderators permitt.

Finnland had some great pilots. In the Stukas thread there are some Color pictures of their planes and pilots.

Eino Jutilainen scored better then Cantacuzino, a couple of their pilots got in the 90's "kills", but I don't know if even one got over 100.

PS: I like Lucian Toma as a fighter pilot and the plane he flew but he does not fall in the category of Eastern Front or Home Defence because I prefer the others, so I put him next in the final anti axis campaign.

This post has been edited by Der Maresal on January 25, 2005 07:19 pm

My choice for favorite pilot is Lt. Ion Dobran.
A great PILOT and also a great MAN.
During the WW II Lt. Ion Dobran (from Grupul 9 Vt.) flew in 340 combat sorties, fought in 74 aerial battles and was shot down three times. He was credited with 13 enemy aircarft destrozed and a total number of 15 ARR victories (RUMANIAN ACES OF WORLD WAR 2 by Denes Bernard)
I met him last year on 18 august to Sebanescu's celebration and he made me a good impression.
Below a photo with Mr Ion Dobran taken by Gabi Ivanescu some years ago.

Attached Image

Maresal,you "kill" me with that Muresan that nobody heard about....

Let's stick to Romanian pilot, as this is the ARR section of the forum, not the WW2 in general part.

It's imposible to make a choise.
I'm sure that you all will vote for fighter pilots...
Not so fair

And unfortunately only for officers probably. Many forget that it was the simple adjutant that did most of the fighting in the ARR and even now few get the recognition they deserve. Men like Teodor Zabava, Stefan Pucas, Nicolae Stan, Mihai Belcin, Cristea Chirvasuta, Ion Mucenica etc, etc don't get metnioned that much unfortunately.

Victor , as per your suggestion.. I see here 3 people who would fit into the topic characteristics started and less because of aerial figures

Bazu .................because flying was always a passion and hoby for him
Serbanescu........wanted to be a pilot but was a typical infantery man
Ciocanel............seems to be the typical man who was borned to be a fighter plt.

and if I were to select only one is Ciocanel...because Serbanescu was prior a mountain divison man and Bazu was prior the war an influential rich high society individual ........

Alex

Serbanescu for me was a true leader, and an experienced Veteran.
A bit like Adolf Galland was for the German Airforce, a leader.

I admire how he organized the ground personnel and the defence of the airfield at Stalingrad and lifted the Messerschmitts on barrels and made them fire at the tanks. He thoroughly organized the ground personnel as well, maybe he was also suited for the Army as he was for the Airforce, who knows.

What i don't get is how could he fly with a defect radio on the day he was shot down, as this was the reason that lead to his death.

An important pilot and squadron leader like him flyies with the best plane and with the best equipment. This should not have happened to Serbanescu the ace, and hero of the Romanian press and public.

He should have died in a very heavy combat, a turning fight with 30 or 40 planes attacking him at the same time, or hit by ground fire.... a situation where the skill of the pilot more or less matters.. but to die like that,...because of a faulty radio and not hearing the warning of his wingman to check his 6, ohh .. that was just very bad luck. This could have been avoided, but thinking what happened after perhaps it was better like that, - I would not have liked to see Serbanescu fight against his former coleagues in the luftwaffe, to which he was surely a friend of.


This post has been edited by Der Maresal on January 26, 2005 05:22 am

Maybe.. maybe not.Remember he died just before 23 august, he remained a hero in our view, he did not fight alongside comunist and against his former friends and allies, he did not live to be humiliated and tortured by comunists.He died like an airmen, he died defending his country, he remained a legend for romanian youth.

As for the radio, in those time broken radios was something rather common.Unfortunatelly - as far as I noticed from the books I read - romanians did not consider this as vital and allowed planes to fly without a good radio (or without one at all).