Romanian aces of WWI

i have read the threads in Romanian aces in WWI with great interest. many people have made contributions to this effort. i feel it would have been most helpful to have indicated whether dates being offered are the old style or new style calendars. this can cause much confusion. years ago Valeriu Avram shared much material with me but failed to mention which calendar was being referred to. it took some for me to realize this as a result of checking Romanian and French and Russian claims against dates and locations of enemy losses (as well as Central Powers claims). the same questions also pertain to dates when airmen received awards. regarding the armistice - on the night of 5/6 December 1917 n.s. Romania was obliged to suspend hostilities and Russian General Shcherbachev offered Armistce Termss to the Central Powers. the Armistice of Focsani was signed on 9 December 1917 n.s. many thanks to those who provided so much information and photos. august

This post has been edited by agblume on September 05, 2006 04:03 pm

Actually the Fokker attributed to plut. Marin Popescu on 25 July/7 August 1917 was shot down around 1930 hours. That was after he destroyed the Draken floating above the Vanatori area.

The same Marin Popercu has achieved a kill on 14/27 May 1917 and another one latewr in August (as seen on the 2nd page of the topic). He seems t ohave bneen the second highest scoring Romanian pilot of WW1.

Does anybody the total number of air to air victories claimed by the Romania Air Force during WW1


Thank You

Here are his awards on display in the Air Force Museum

Thanks Victor for the photo. It confirms the list of awards you posted earlier.

Besides, it shows an interesting observer badge with the cipher of King Ferdinand and the coat-of-arms.

On the WarChron forum of our colleague agblume there is a thread on Romanian WWI airmen mentioning a Sublocotenent Marin Popescu of the N.11 Nieuport Squadron who is said to have claimed no fewer than 6 victories. Sublocotenent M. Popescu is also said to have received the Order of Michael the Brave for his deeds, but unfortunately I could not find it on the list of recipients in Ichim's book. Can anyone shed some light on this matter?

I know only about Plutonier Marin Popescu of the Ni.10 squadron ( flying Nieuport 11 nr. 1403 )

As an NCO, he could not have received the Order of Michael the Brave, so his absence from the list of recipients could be explained. What about the 6 victories?

Hello Carol I and Cantacuzino, Thanks for help with corrections and details. There are still many questions that seem to have few answers. I will keep seeking. Cheers, agblume

As far as I know, there was no W.W. 1 Rumanian 'ace' per se, who shot down five enemy airplanes (not counting balloons).
By the way, were balloons usually counted in the final score?

Gen. Dénes

This post has been edited by Dénes on September 01, 2006 02:48 am

It depends on how you count the observation balloons. They were a rather common (in WWI) type of military aircraft. Of course they did not have the manoeuvrability of the airplanes, but if the crew was armed they could not be considered only 'sitting ducks'.

Hello General Dénes and Carol I, I would have to agree that no Romanian airmen appear to have had five confirmed victories. Due to the lack of German archival materials it is very difficult to verify claims on German aircraft, while on the other hand the k.u.k. archives in Vienna remain intact and so all k.u.k. losses on the Romanian front can be verified.

Here is what I have regarding Marin Popescu: 27 May 1917 Popescu on Nieuport claimed an enemy aircraft near Tecuci (unable to confirm); 6 July 1917 Popescu claimed an enemy aircraft at unknown location (unable to verify); 8 July 1917 Popescu claimed a German LVG near Frunzeasea village (unable to verify); 7 August 1917 Popescu on Nieuport XI claimed a German Fokker E-type which fell in flames near Faurei village behind enemy lines (claim shared with James Texier) (unable to verify); 7 August 1917 Popescu claimed a German balloon near Marasheshti (unable to verify); 21 August 1917 Popescu claimed a German Fokker E-type north of Focsani (unable to verify). All dates are new style.

I would very much appreciate any new details or corrections about Popescu.

There are some Romanian reports that fail to identify the names of the airmen involved in combat claims, often referring to them as pilots of various Grupul's, which make them impossible to sort out.

I do not believe that Romanian airmen of WWI have received the proper recognition they deserve. I would hope that can be corrected. Cheers, agblume