Portraists of Rumanian Pilots and ARR Officers, WWII Pilots of ARR

Slt Balta Constantin

Any idea who are those two pilots?
All I know is that they were best friends but died in a colision between their planes..



This post has been edited by C-2 on May 10, 2005 09:19 pm

Very nice picture. They were part from 7th FG as we can see the Bf-109 E used by this group in '41-'42.
Maybe you should ask Mr. DiCezare ( or Dobran).
Did Mr.Goloiu tell you in what period they died ?

I have no information about two Bf 109E pilots colliding in air and dying (there were I.A.R. 80 pilots involved in such tragedy, though).

The closest incident I have happened in June 1942, between slt. av. Ioan Soare and slt. av. Titus Firoescu, who collided in mid-air while training on Bf 109E, but could force land and escaped alive.

Other two Bf 109Es collided when taxiing in darkness on Karpovka airfield, during emergency take off while fleeing the advancing Soviet tanks on 23 Nov. 1942, but I doubt it's the incident Mr. Goloiu refers to.

Perhaps you can ask someone who was their colleague.

Gen. Dénes

This post has been edited by Dénes on May 11, 2005 11:31 am

They flew IAR while coliding.
Mr Goloiu like I said suffered two strokes....

I know a story about two friends who collided with IAR 80 (in '44). One of them (who died in collision) was nicknamed " Gri-Gri".
But it's very strange to change flying the better Bf-109 E of Gr7Vt (in '42) with obsolete IAR 80 in '44.
Maybe in that picture are two pilots from Gr7Vt who never had such an accident.
Mr.Goloiu was not in 7thFG (with Bf109E) so i think it's better to ask somebody else (from 7thFG ) like Mr.DiCezare.

That's a different story, then.

On Sept. 4, 1942 two I.A.R. 80s of Gr. 8 vân. collided in mid-air on their way to the Stalingrad area. Both pilots, slt. av. Bujor Botezat+ and lt. av. Vasile Fortu+, died.
Could they be the persons in the photo?

Gen. Dénes

This post has been edited by Dénes on May 12, 2005 01:10 pm

I have the feeling the pilots in the picture were flying Bf109 E in '42 instead of IAR 80.
Did Botezatu and Fortu ever flew in 7thFG ( with Bf 109E) ?
I am still waiting the answer of Mr. DiCezare maybe he could help with the ID of the pilots in the picture.

This post has been edited by Cantacuzino on May 12, 2005 02:07 pm

I'll make some calls and ask...

Acording to Gen Dobran(who hasn't seen yet the photo),the pilots fle w IAR 80 and colided over Pipera.It is posib.thar the name of one of them was Sarbu.

That incident happened on Oct. 5, 1942. Two I.A.R. 80s collided in mid-air. One pilot, Adj. stag. av. Eugen (Evghenie) Camencianu+ died, while the other, Adj. av. Anton Sârbu, survived. Both were part of Esc. 53 vân. Camencianu was an ace with at least 14 ARR victories.

It would be very interesting to find out which pilots are shown in the photo...

Gen. Dénes

This post has been edited by Dénes on May 15, 2005 04:25 pm

Eugen Camencianu is the first in the middle row of the photo below published in Aripi româneşti (20 July 1943).


Originally posted in Airmen recipients of the Order of Michael the Brave

The pilot from the left side of the picture is more closer to Camencianu portrait.

Below , a nice piece of art. The grave with "eagle hold the cross" of Adj. Camencianu from Ghencea military cemetery. Picture courtesy Dan Melinte.

Mr Goloiu called me today and said he remembers the names of the pilots;Grebencea and Sarbu.

The pilot name is Gheorghe Popescu. He spent 10 years in prison. Dyed in 1995.
I have a colection of 6 photos:



This post has been edited by aerialls on May 25, 2005 09:34 pm