FARR rejecting the Il-2?

Were all of them offered for free ? As I know at least a good part of them were offered in exchange for oil and other supplies (but mostly oil).

There were two categories of German-made warplanes used by ARR during the war:
1, those to be used exclusively on the front, within Corpul 1 Aerian Regal Roman, and
2, those to be used in Rumania (and occasionally on the front, too).

The C1ARR airplanes were given to ARR from the Spring of 1943 on by the Germans for free, but they could be used only on the front zone (incl. Bessarabia and Moldavia in 1944). These were practically German property, despite carrying ARR markings.
The second category was Rumanian property, bought for cash and natural resources (incl. oil and wheat, you've mentioned), from 1938 on.

I hope this clarifies the issue, setting right many misconceptions regarding German airplanes in ARR (incl. the fact that after 23 August 1944 the Germans did not capture or confiscate Rumanian airplanes, as these actually were their property. Rather the opposite is true, namely almost all C1ARR aircraft that fought on the so-called 'Western Front', against the Germans and Hungarians, were in fact captured ones, former German property).

Gen. Dénes

This post has been edited by Dénes on January 30, 2010 09:17 am

Could you please describe this bombing method? I haven't found anything on it.

As a side note, in the literature dedicated to the ARR in WW2 there is almost no mention of specific tactics, combat methods and their efectiveness in combat. At best, there are some fugitive remarks or sometimes one can deduct them from the context. How did Romanian combat methods and tactics differed from German ones, in different stages of the war? What about the weaponry used (bombs) Were they German made or licensed, or indigenous Romanian designs? French, English, Polish for the respctively manufactured planes? There must have been thousands, if not tens of thousands dropped by the ARR in combat, yet all I found about them is the weight - and that very rarely mentioned.

The books and articles about the ARR during WW2 – at least the ones I’ve read - focus mostly on aircraft and the people who flew them, with operations described rather superficially, and mostly from eye witness accounts - which, while very interesting, can never give an overall picture.

I'd really love to see a thread on ARR tactics, combat methods, typical weapon employment and their effectiveness.
Sorry for the off topic.

This post has been edited by Vici on February 01, 2010 03:08 pm

Could you please describe this bombing method? I haven't found anything on it.

Well, it is a kind of combination between level and dive bombing, without really being either.

First of all I need to explain what a "lob" is. Try to picture yourself gently throwing an object to a target painted on the ground in front of you, but underarm "from below" in an arc not "from near your ear" or "from the shoulder". You have your arm straight down, with the object in your hand (like when throwing a bowling ball). You swing your arm back a bit, move your arm like a pendulum, and when your arm is in front of you, you let go of the object. That object will travel forward and upward in an arc and land from above into your target. That is a "lob". With some practice, you can learn how much swing you need and how far up your arm needs to be when you let go of the object in order to land on your target. Think of the game of Bowls of

To recreate that "pendulum" movement, the aircraft engaged the target in a shallow dive and when close to the target, the aircraft pulled up steeply while releasing the bomb. The bomb then travelled forward and upward in an arc and then landed on the target from above.

I hope this makes sense.

Radu

Understood it perfectly, thanks. In essence it is the "dive tossing" used later by jets.

But what is the reason behind using this particular method? Wouldn't a normal dive (like Stukas) been more accurate and easy to learn for the pilot?

I do not know why they preferred that method, but I guess it has to do with the fact that the Hs129 flew low and slow, whereas dive bombing run needs to start at some altitude. Furthermore, dive bombers need to be fitted with aerodynamic devices (air brakes) to slow them in a dive. These slow down the plane to some degree in level flight too. That is why, late Ju87s flew without dive brakes (which made them slighlty faster) and used the "turnip lob" method of bombing instead of dive bombing.
Radu

As Radu said, they were flying low and slow (300+ km/h) and lacked dive brakes; droping it like that would allow the plane to clear out the blast area while not using bomb delay (which would further complicate calculations when attacking a moving target such as a tank).