Aurel Vlaicu., 100 years ago...

Non multa sed multum.

(sorry it is not in English)

Non liquet

Not the number of Denes' books is important, but what he writes there, and how he writes. I don't care about the number, the quality is important, and the TRUTH.

I appreciate Denes Bernad's work and I hope he will continue to release books on Romanian aviation.

Radu

Having a rather good knowledge of the Romanian involvement in WW2, I think I can have an educated opinion the books written by Denes on Romanian aviation and airplanes (I have read I think 5 of them). I haven't come across many errors in them and the quality was high enough for me.

In the end of the day what matters most is that he filled a blank in English language aviation history publications that no Romanian ethnic had done until then and made the story of our WW2 military aviators known to a wider audience.

The fact that Denes is stubbornly sticking to the term "Rumania/Rumanian" and that he is a Hungarian ethnic, should not even be relevant.

I dont know why Denes didnt wrote about Vlaicu and others, but my opinion is that this fact is not important and Denes has nothing to be imputed. If authors or others forget to mention or dont want to mention romanian contribution to world aviation, it is the fault of romanians. We dont have to expect from others to promote romanians, until we ourselves dont make enough efforts to promote what we or our ancestors did. Denes did his part of contribution regarding romanian aviation history, while romanians did less than him. I had some arguments with Denes during years, in relation with romanian-hungarian history. Sometimes I was wrong, sometimes him. I ended respecting him, as I have to learn some things from him. We are all humans, so we owe respect to each other, doesnt matter ethnicity. So, to Denes, a hungarian fellow, a great salute from me, a romanian motz!

I see Denes is more important to you than Vlaicu. Congratulations.

This post has been edited by Vranceanu on May 02, 2011 05:57 pm

Why this sudden attention to my person? You had many months to vent your anger towards me, "a Hungarian" (if you wish to see primarily the ethnicity in me), so I am wondering what triggered your outburst?

Anyhow, as for my book, "Rumanian air force. The prime decade", please quote the full title that also includes "(1938-1947)". i.e., the prime decade. That explains clearly to those who are open minded why I did not write about Vlaicu, Vuia, Coanda, and other Rumanian aviation pioneers being active almost 30 years earlier.

Gen. Dénes

P.S. If you insist in addressing me with Mr., then please do it properly. That's the least I can ask. Or, just call me Dénes, like all other poeple on this forum do.
And many thanks for the moral support given to me by fellow forumites...

This post has been edited by Dénes on May 02, 2011 06:40 pm

Mr Denes, you written a foreword to "Rumanian Air Force", where you are telling about... Bleriot and the beginning of romanian air force. Do you want I remember you your own book ?

And also, do you want to remember thant the map of ROMANIAN KINGDOM you put on the second cover of this book, is an horthyst, irredentist map ?

Vranceanu you received a very clear answer from Denes . What do you want in fact ? Are you envy about the contribution of other authors related to aviation history ? About map, Romania suffered territorial losses in 1940. What do you want to see about this in a history book related to that period ?

This post has been edited by Mihai Popteanu on May 02, 2011 08:02 pm

Mihai Popteanu, have you see the book which is in discussion here ?
The book is about the years 1938 - 1947, but the map concerns only the years 1940 - 1944. Why ?
And why romanian towns on this map are named with magyar names ? Brasso, Nagyseben, etc ? Why Constanta is "Konstanza" ?
I didn't notice that Mr Denes use alternative names for magyar towns, for exemple Szeged must be called also Seghedin, Debrecen is Debretin, etc.
Have you read, Mihai Popteanu, the first words of this book ? I give for you, here (dont't forget this topic is about Vlaicu, so I do this for his memory):

"Rumanians can claim a rich aviation heritage. The first flight from rumanian soil took place on the morning of 18 October 1909 when fames french pilot Louis Bleriot flew from Baneasa hippodrome outside Bucharest. The following year, four aircraft - two Farman biplanes, Wright Type B and a Santos Dumont Demoiselle - arrived from France to establish the nucleos of Rumanian militaruy aviation.
On 1 April 1913, ........ etc etc".
The beginnings of romanian aviation is treated like this. Vlaicu don't exist for Mr Denes, nor the other romanian pioneers. Without Bleriot's flight - nothing.
Shame on the author who mistify like this romanian history.


This post has been edited by Vranceanu on May 02, 2011 10:42 pm

The first flights made by Aurel Vlaicu in 1908 were not in Romania, but in Austro-hungarian Empire, were was the village he was born. Then he was austrian or hungarian subject, of romanian origin.

In 1909 Vlaicu went to Romania. Maybe then he became romanian citisen of romanian origin.

Binţinţi, village of Vlaicu, is in Romania only from 1918, after the Marea Unire.

You wanted to say in 1909 ...

What's funny is that my inocent posts always turn into regional wars...

No, I wanted to say 1908. Some sourves point the first flights of Vlaicu in 1908 in Transilvania, while his first flights in Romania were in 1909. As the source pointing 1908 is wikipedia, the year might be wrong, as wiki is not quite accurate.