Strike Lance 2009

http://usafelive.dodlive.mil/2009/04/28/49...oys-to-romania/

Is this for real? Are the officers allowed to make public comments?
If so, it states something we already knew (well, some of us ): the differences are huge between our countries! I still don't get the hot-dog thing: wasn't it just a sausage in a bun? What's so different between this exquisite American cuisine and the Romanian counter-part?
BTW, I'm curious: how many miles did he have to run after he feasted at a Romanian-style Easter dinner?

Why not?

Many wartime magazines or newspapers published stories from Romanian servicemen writing about their experiences in Russia or in Czecholsovakia. For example, Aripi Romanesti is full of such stories, extremely similar to this officer's.

What were the people from the air base doing showing them a video "about how [the Romanians] invented the jet aircraft,and were the first country in Europe to have a self-propelled flying machine"?
For God's sake, who in the world other than ignorant Romanians who cannot google still believe this poppycock?

Radu

Gee, I don't know... "Noi suntem români / Şi vom fi aici pe veci stăpâni"
How's that for an explanation?
When you say Internet, you mean
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_aircraft
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_flying_machine
That would prove what? I'm sure that if Internet would have been available in the 1930's and 1950's (Stalin and/or Khruschev), the inventor of the radio would have been Popov and Michurin would have been praised as the first genetician! Everybody sees what they choose to see!

Ha ha ha ha, so you believe the Wikipedia now? Were you not the one who kept saying that it was not a good source of info?

Even in Wikipedia, Vuia comes quite late to the "party" in 1906, three years after the Wright brothers. Maybe you can explain to me how did Vuia manage to be the first to... wait a minute, in Romania they do not even call it "FLYING". In Romania they call it "primia ridicare de la sol a unui aparat mai greu decat aerul prin mijloace proprii de bord" (first lift off from the ground by a machine heavier than the air by its own on-board means). Why would they not just say "first flight"? Maybe because it was not?
Vuia had great merits and did a lot of work with other means of transportation, especially locomotives, which were by far more successful than his "flying automobile" that was a resounding failure. He never got the proper recognition for those achievements, instead we are continuously told about his failure, now dressed as success. Many biased autors fail to mention that his "flight" was just a short hop, shorter and lower than an Olympic long jump. In the process the "flying automobile" was damaged and never "jumped" again.
The title of "first aeroplane" was officailly given to the Wright brothers for their flight on 17 December 1903

Coanda has immense merits and was an aviation genius. He deserves much more praise for his Coanda Effect.
His attempt in 1910 was not a jet engine. In today's terms, his engine may be called a "ducted fan with afterburner". The turbine was not an original invention. Turbines were used for propulsion for at least 20 years at the time. Google "Turbinia". The turbine of his engine was spun by a 4-piston egine. Another thing that many biased "historians" forget is that he did not build this engine on his own. He built this engine together with Campini. After Coanda realised that this engine was a dead end, he abandoned all work on it and went on to achieve great things as an aviation inventor. However, Campini continued and after many years and after a lot of expense he built a working engine which promptly proved what Coanda has been saying all along, respectively that it was not an effective jet.
The title of "inventor of the jet engine" is officially split between Hans von Ohain and Frank Whittle.

Radu

PS By the way, relying on others' achievements to boost one's own standing (we are a nation of..., my ancestors did..., I come from a long line of..., my brother is... ) is a clear sign of failure. Surely, if you have achievements of your own, you do not need others.

This post has been edited by Radub on May 05, 2009 08:35 pm

Right !

Wikipedia states pretty clearly that Traian Vuia built and flew the first self-propelling heavier-than-air aircraft in Europe, in 1906.

Being proud of your nation's past and achievements is natural and sane, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that!

Radub - you recommended wiki, not I; it seems that for many people it is a trusted source of info's. And I never stated that it is a bad source or something like that. I merely said it is soooo easy to alter, hide, misinterpret informations. But this seems to be the case with everything, not just wiki, or not just the Internet. One must be very careful what chooses!
Imperialist, being proud is one thing, boasting is another. Can you see the difference?

Absolutely! I am proud of my nation's past and achievements. The only problem is that most of the "achievements" that many of my co-nationals try to promote are dubious to say the least. We have achievements, we have a proud past. Many Romanians moan and complain about the "Romanians' image aborad". We would look less ridiculous/pathetic if we stuck with the truths, however few and less-than-spectacular they may be. You know why? Because the audience that we try to sell these "pups" to are not complete idiots. Some of them may actually know one thing or two and can quickly point out the holes in the "argument". If we keep doing "alba-neagra" with our history, then the audience will treat us accordingly.

By the way, both Vuia and Coanda had to go abroad to "achieve" something in their fields simply because in their own homeland they were treated with disdain or indifference (except for the times when they were directly attacked). Romanians suffer really badly from this crab mentality. Both of them lived abroad for most of their lives. Both of them got their "recognition" late in their lives from a Communist regime that tried to capitalise on their achievements for their own gains. Vuia was returned to Romania from Paris at the direct order of Dr. Petru Groza who started a campaign to promote him - in reply to the pervasive Soviet claims that one of their own (usually a poor peasant ) "invented" everything, we had to have our own "pioneers". If you are really interested in his achievements (and there were quite a few, he was a very smart man) and his life, then I suggest to try to locate a copy of the excellent "Pionieri ai Aviatiei Mondiale, Traian Vuia si epoca Sa" by Dan Antoniu et al.

Radu

The lieutenat, however, was less impressed by the pioneering fact than of our "agricultural practices". Even if he would be made to believe in our pioneering of aviation stuff, he (or me, for that matter) wouldn't see the relevance of that in nowadays' situation. It is good to be proud of the past, not to live in it!
Oh, the "crab" stuff is also very Romanian: "să moară şi capra vecinului"...

This post has been edited by MMM on May 06, 2009 12:12 pm

Who was boasting? Some American pilots came (probably for the first time ever) to Romania. Their hosts thought to present them a movie about the country. Given the airforce setting, they chose something about Romania's airforce history.

As Radub said before, the great pioneers of Romanian airforces did NOT achieve their goals in Romania, but abroad! This is not really something to be very proud of - as I guess the Americans are not so proud nowadays about Lindbergh. IMO, at least!

Feel free to file a complaint to the Pride Ministry and tell them to erase them from the Pride registry.

Obviously we can feel proud about whatever we want. Some feel proud about manele and Romanian women, others about the scenery and folk traditions. The airmen felt proud about their forerunners and showed the Americans a short movie. No big deal.

1. Are you the "Pride Ministry"?
2. Of course everyone can (and is) proud of everything he/she thinks worthy! But sometimes this gets to conflicts...
3. This is a typical case of clash between over-zealous pride and under-achieved general knowledge. I have strong doubts that the 1-st lieutenant in question ever heard about Hans von Ohain and Frank Whittle! I have my doubts he heard about the Montgolfier brothers, as well

Many aviators are passionate about aircraft and aviation. None of them "fell into being aviators" by accident. Being an aviator requires love for flight and all things to do with aviation. I do not know any aviator who did not dream about aircraft since childhood and all aviators I know read, dream, live, breathe aviation. Most of them know their stuff. Of all people in the world, these are possibly the last people to be shown films about how the Romanians came up "first jet" and "first flight". In the USAF an aviator has to first get a degree and then join the AF training programme. That lieutenant is most definitely an educated man not some highly sugesstible precupeatza ready to believe anything that Stefan Gheorghiu's offspring come up with.
In my opinion, showing such films is insulting their intelligence.
Radu