Mariana Dragescu.

I visited her today with Dobran.
It was a short visit but there will be more.

On the way from Dobran's house to Mariana Dragescu,I asked him when he first met her.
Dobran said that he doesn't remember exactly,but the first time he saw her it was during a winter in an airfield.Mariana Dragescu was sitting on an amo. box ,dead tired and eating a sadwich. Less then a meter from her ,from under the snow a foot wearing a military boot from a dead body could be seen...
Aither she was very tired or she saw too many similar things,said Dobran.

I hope to post the same photo but in better quality soon.
I was to embarased to take the photo off the wall in order to photo. it....

This post has been edited by C-2 on November 30, 2005 06:53 pm

Mariana Dragescu started her military career at the Rosiori cavalery regiment.
She was trained to be a royal guard and queen Maria use to came often to see the training at the royal hipodrom at "Calea Plevnei"(very close to the redaction of "Cotidianul" today).They were tought to ride without a saddle.
Every time the queen came to visit,a small banquet took place after.
Dancing,fine drinks and food and a good time.

That was probably the 4th Rosiori Regiment, Queen Maria's unit. The Royal stables were located where the National Sport Academy is today, by the river.

Once,with three wonded soldiers aboard,the RWD's eangine died suddenly.
Mariana Dragescu landed on a field,and with some tools tried to fix the problem.
The only constient pasanger told her that if the stay there during the night,they'll be killed by partizans...
The problem was solved but she couldn't start the plane alone.
There a miracle happened;at the horizon a military vehicle came.There were 2 Romanian soldiers inside.
When they saw that she's a woman and speaks Romanian,the Lt.said:"Oh my God! Do you know how much time we didn't hear a woman speaking our lang.?"
After a few more min,she was back in the air....

Loading a RWD-13S with wounded, courtesy of mr. Hubert Kuberski

RWDs on the airfield

The members of the "White Squadron" were civilian volunteers.
They were dressed in uniforms,since every civilian taken prisoner by the soviets was shoot as a spy.

One morning,Mariana Dragesu landed with her RWD at Salz.
It was imediatly after the suprise air attack made by the Soviet airforce who did a lot of damage.
The first person who came toward her was the elder Ruspolli.
-"They distroyed our cow!" he told her.Referig to their Cant 3 eangine who carried their suuplies.

How many kills did Mariana Dragesu had if she had any??? Sorry but my knowledge about her is very limited, I am learning while reading this post...

Regards

This post has been edited by Benoit Douville on December 23, 2005 01:10 am

Benoit, Mariana Dragescu was not a fighter pilot. She was member of "White Squadron" with the purpose to transport wounded soldiers from front lines to nearest Hospitals.

Today,second visit to M.Dragescu.

Rosiori regiment "Regina Maria".

The Kalmuka step. The "White squadron"( 108 ) facilieties....


This post has been edited by C-2 on December 30, 2005 04:55 pm

Kotelnicovo,Sept 1942.
Mariana Dragescu resting inside a tent.
The canister in front is with drinking water.