Cold war defections of romanian aircraft

A less glamourous (perhaps even shameful) chapter from the history of our air force - defections of Romanian pilots with their planes:

http://s188567700.online.de/CMS/index.php?...d=187&Itemid=47

Hi,
The list of defections is not complete there was at least one AN 2 that defected to Austria in the late seventies,early eighties.Its pilot died ,more or less recently, in Australia.
Personaly,I dont understand what is shamefull in trying to escape from a prison!

Their actions will always be controversial, some consider them heroes, others traitors.

I haven't heard about an An-2 defecting to Austria. Are you sure it was An-2 and not the BN-2 Islander mentioned?
I did read some time ago about a failed attempt with a civilian An-2 - a whole family was to run, but they were captured by the Securitatea before assembling to the take-off place.

Hi,Zapacitu
Yes I'm sure it was an AN2 and as far as I remember ,the pilot took some 10 passangers with him.Radio " Free Europe" dedicated a lot of attention to this defection.Again,as I remember,after this event,the Militia was ordered to guard the gricultural planes and during the night the magnetos where taken out.
Thats all i remember and i dont have time,now to chek it on the net.
Cheers,Dan

Didn't want to start a new topic, I hope this one is ok for my questions

I've recently read the article in Modelist no.4 about the He-111 defection from Brasov to Yugoslavia on 13 March 1952.
I have a few questions, i hope Horia or somebody else can answer them

1. What was the designation (number) of the Bomber regiment in Brasov
2. What version of the He-111 did Piturca fly on that day? H-3, H-6, H-20, E? Is the previous history of that particular airframe known?
3. What were the names of the radio operator and mechanic?
4. What happened to the plane after the defection? Was it sent back to Romania, used by the Yugoslavs, scrapped, etc ?
5. What type of fighters were sent after him? Me-109, Yak-23, MiG-15?

I've read here:
http://www.virtualarad.net/orizont_aviatic...4/articol_4.htm
that the Regiment was disbanded after this defection.
Is this true?

What about the other He-111 that defected shortly after Piturca to Greece, mentioned very briefly at the end of the article? Was it also from Brasov? Any details about it?

This post has been edited by Vici on September 29, 2010 12:13 pm

Can anybody answer my questions above ?

Hi Vici. I did not seen this thred until today, and I will try to briefly answer to your questions.

1 I don't know the number of the Bomber Regiment.

2 The plane was HE-111 H6 no 58.

3,4 I don't know

5 Posible Me-109.

The regiment was disbanded when another HE-111 defect to Greece shortly after Piturca. The infos for that era are very rare, and the records are closed. This archives are keept by SRI as an successor af ex Securitatea.

Hello I am researching yugoslav and romanian defections 1948-1955.
About that He-111..there are some interesting parts of that story.In yugoslav douments you will find that plane came from 17th bomber regiment..but in romanian sources it is 190th bomber regiment - how it is possible i do not know?
Mybe you can help me with a list of bomber regiments wich were baset at otarsul Stalin in 1952 ?
Accoriding yugoslav sources aircraft had this marking AG-58 , 58 is bort number , but what is "AG" ?

Wait... what?! Romanian 190-th bomber regiment? one hundred ninety? It must be a typo...

As a personal opinion, what is really interesting is that by 1952 there were still operational He-111's in Romanian usage.
What happened eventually with the Romanian Ju-88's, Ju-87's, He-111's and Me-109's that had survived the war? Scrap metal and melting furnace ?
Actually, why I am that surprised? They did not bother to save a IAR-80.

This post has been edited by Florin on November 05, 2013 03:43 pm

According Dr Petre Opriş: "La bordul aparatului pilotat de comandantul adjunct al Regimentului 190 Bombardiere s-au aflat locotenentul Ion Ghinea (locţiitorul politic al comandantului Regimentului 190), operatorul radio, mecanicul de bord şi doctorul Ioan Bucur."

Two times 190th, it can not be typo ...maybe that regiment changed name ?

There is also similar confusion with two Bf-109 wich defected in 1952.
Acorrding same romanian source planes took off from Roşiorii de Vede ,but accoring our journals (from 1952) both came from Lugoj.

This post has been edited by flankerS on November 05, 2013 08:07 pm