Romanian aces of World War Two

ARR's aces

Romania had its share of aces during World War Two. Altogether, more than 80 Romanian fighter pilots became aces, having shot down 5 or more enemy aircraft. There have been some debates about their real scores since from the spring of 1944 onwards a different system was used instead of the old principle "one plane shot down - one victory". From then on, a pilot received points for each confirmed victory : one point for shooting down a single-engine enemy plane, two for a two-engine or three-engine aircraft and 3 points for the four-engine or 6-engine bombers. Points were awarded also for airplanes destroyed on the ground. The table below will list the names and the two scores ( total number of points and actual number of kills ) for all the aces I know about. If you know any more names, feel free to let me know.

Rank	Name	Total number of points	Kills	Notes
1	Constantin Cantacuzino ( knicknamed "Bazu" )	69	56 ( 1 shared )	Retired. Forced to emigrate by the communist regime in 1949. Served with the 53rd Fighter Squadron in 1941, than with the 7th and 9th Fighter Groups.
2	Alexandru Serbanescu	55	47	KIA on the 18th of August 1944 in a dogfight with the American P-51 Mustangs. Served with the 7th and 9th Fighter Groups.
3	Ion Milu	52	37 ( 1 shared )	Retired. Became chief test pilot at IAR after the war. Served with the 7th and 9th Fighter Groups.
4	Constantin Rosariu	33	16	Retired. Served with the 7th Fighter Group.
5	Dan Vizanti	33	16 ( 1 shared )	Retired. Served with the 1st, 3rd and 6th Fighter Groups
6	Cristea Chirvasuta	31	22
7	Ion Maga	29	20	Retired. Served with the 5th, 7th and 8th Fighter Groups
8	Vasile Gavriliu	27	16	Retired. Left the air force in 1958. Scored 7of his kills against the Luftwaffe.
9	Ion Mucenica	27	24 ( 1 shared )
10	Teodor Greceanu	24	23	Retired. Was arrested in 1949 and sentenced to life in prison. Released in 1964!!
11	Constantin Lungulescu	24	20 ( 1 shared )	KIA on the 24th of June 1944 in battle with the 15th USAF Retired.
12	Ion Di Cesare	23	19
13	Ilie Dumitru	22	12
14	Ioan Malacescu	21	19	Served with the 7th and 9th Fighter Groups
15	Gheorghe Popescu-Ciocanel	19	14	WIA on the "Black Day" ( 26th of July 1944 ) in a dogfight with the American fighters. Died a few days later.
16	Dan Scurtu	19	12	Retired. Served with the 7th Fighter Group
17	Andrei Radulescu	18	14
18	Teodor Zabava	18	14 ( 1 shared )	Killed in an accident on the 27th of January 1944. Served with the 8th Fighter Group ( became the 8th Assault in May 1943 )
19	Traian Darjan	17	11 ( 1 shared )	KIA on the 25th of February 1945 on the west front Served with the 9th Fighter Group
20	Tiberiu Vinca	17	16 ( 1 shared )	KIA on the 13th of March 1944 by friendly fire of a German Heinkel He-111
21	Florian Budu	16	16	Highest scoring IAR-80 ace. KIA on the 31st of May 1944 in battle with the 15th USAF
22	Ioan Nicola	16	10 ( 4 shared )
23	Ion Dobran	15	12	Retired. Was Serbanescu's last wingman. Forced out of the air force in 1952.
24	Stefan Dumitrescu	15	8
25	Mihai Mihordea	15	12 ( 1 shared )
26	Gheorghe Stanica	15	5
27	Aurel Tifrea	15	5
28	Evghenie Camencianu	14	10
29	Petre Cojocaru	14	5 ( 1 shared )
30	Constantin Popescu	14	8
31	Horia Agarici	13	8	Hero of the 1941 campaign. Served with the 5th and 7th Fighter Groups
32	Dumitru Chera	13	5 ( 1 shared )
33	Mircea Dumitrescu	13	10 ( 3 shared )
34	Ioan Micu	13	13
35	Iosif Moraru	13	11
36	Lucian Toma	13	7
37	Hariton Dusescu	12	10
38	Ion Galea	12	7
39	Gheorghe Tutuianu	12	10
40	Florin Alexiu	11	6
41	Stefan Octavian Ciutac	11	5
42	Ion Cristu	11	8 ( 4 shared )
43	Stefan Greceanu	11	10
44	Ioan Ivancievici	11	7 ( 3 shared )
45	Nicolae Macri	11	5
46	Ion Panaite	11	9
47	Nicolae Polizu-Micsunesti	11	11	KIA on the 2nd of May 1943 on the east front. Leading ace of the 1941 campaign with 8 kills
48	Constantin Ursache	11	9
49	Dumitru Baciu	10	7 ( 2 shared )
50	Emil Balan	10	7	KIA on the 26th of July 1944 ( ARR's "Black Day" in combat with American P-51's
51	Niculae Burileanu	10	9
52	Laurentiu Catana	10	7	Shot down on the 26th of June 1943 on the east front. Became POW
53	Ioan Dimache	10	7 ( 1 shared )
54	Constantin Dimache	10	7 ( 4 shared )
55	Mircea Mazilu	10	7 ( 2 shared )
56	Liviu Muresan	10	9
57	Petre Cordescu	9	6
58	Gheorghe Hapaianu	9	9	KIA on the 14th of July 1944
59	Alexandru Moldoveanu	9	6
60	Mircea Senchea	9	6	Retired. Served with the 9th Fighter Group
61	Parsifal Stefanescu	9	7
62	Gheorghe Cocebas	8	6
63	Emil Georgescu	8	5
64	Constantin Nicoara	8	7
65	Stefan Pucas	8	5	Retired. Served with the 8th Fighter and 8th Assault groups. Scored 2 of its kills with the Hs-129B!!
66	Ioan Florea	7	5
67	Vasile Fortu	7	6
68	Constatin Pomut	7	5
69	Iuliu Anca	6	5
70	Iosif Chiuhulescu	6	5 ( 3 shared )
71	Dumitru Niculescu	6	5 ( 3 shared )
72	Constantin Popescu	6	5
73	Erich Selei	6	6
75	Radu Reinek	6	6 ( 1 shared )
76	Ioan Vonica	6	5	Became "ace in a day" on the 25th of August 1941, when he shot down 4 I-16's and destroyed a seaplane on the ground.
77	Mihai Belcin	5	5 ( 1 shared )
78	Vintila Bratianu	5	5
79	Emil Droc	5	5
80	Iordache Florea	5	5
81	Ioan Mihailescu	5	5
82	Miron Costin	5	5
83	Romeo Neacsu	5	5
84	Mihai Bulat	?	9 ( 5 shared )
85	Eugen Fulga	?	10 ( 6 shared )
86	Teodor Moscu	5?	4 ?	First Romanian pilot to shoot down 2 enemy planes in a single mission. Final victory count might be higher

After the war, many of the surviviors were persecuted for the "guilt" of having served their country on the east, home and west fronts. Several pilots were forced to leave the country in the face of relentless persecutions and threats of the communist authorities. Those who chose to stay were lucky if they were only fired from the army, but there were some ( like Teodor Greceanu ) who were arrested and sent to prison. A tragic faith for these brave men who had fought so long for their country ...

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