The victories of Cpt. Vizanty, or the "Vizanty-Mystery&

[Dénes]

There is an apparent controversy surrounding the number of victories of Cpt. av. Dan Vizanty (Vizanti, Vizante), C/O of Esc. 43 vân., then Gr. 6 vân. and, in 1945, of Gr. 1 vân.

I found concrete evidence of only 16 victories (7 airplanes) and indirect evidence of an unprecedented 12 four-engine bombers, equalling to 36 ARR victories (N.B., some of these victories overlap with my findings).

Finally, I came to the conclusion that his final score is (at least) 43 victories, equal to 16 airplanes shot down confirmed (one shared) and an unknown number unconfirmed. No ground victories were found either.
He personally claims 43 (confirmed) aerial victories, matching my own research. This outstanding score makes him the 4th ranking overall ARR 'ace' and the most proficient one flying mainly the indigenous I.A.R. 80/81 fighter airplane.

Now, various Rumanian and foreign sources give different scores. For example, the latest book published by Modelism Int. mentions on p. 113 "at least 16 victories" in the Rumanian version of the text and 26 victories in the English(-like) version. These could actually mean downed airplanes. If so, the Rumanian version confirms my findings.

However, Mark Axworthy - who also had limited access to the Rumanian archives and can generally be regarded as reliable in data - mentions in his 'Third Axis, Fourth Ally' book, on p. 311, Dan 'Vizante' with 32 victories (i.e., airplanes) by July 1944, equivalent to 39 ARR victories under the 1944 system. Although by July 1944, the I.A.R. 80/81-equipped units were forbidden to engage the USAAF, he could had added further victories during the short operation to defend the Capital against the Luftwaffe in late August 1944, although this is unlikely. The 32 airplanes Axworthy claims on behalf of Vizanty seems to be very high.

If anyone can clarify what I like to call the "Vizanty-mystery", I'd very much appreciate if he would share the results with us, too.

Dénes

[Victor]

I do not believe that the "at least 16 victories" given by the book published by Modelism is referring to the number of aircraft shot down. They clearly make the difference between victories and kills. Just look at page 196 at the comment about adj. av. Ion Dimache. The "26" in the English version is clearly a typo.

Unfortunately the operations diary of the 6th Fighter Group in 1944 has not been found. So probably all his claims and those of others remain unknown. However, I think that we should only take into consideration what can be proved, that is 16 victories.