Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum - Downing of a Romanian fighter ace Aug 18,44

Trying to reconstruct the events dated Aug 18,44 when
the Romanian second top scorring ac Serbanescu ( 47 confirmed)
was brought down by 15th Air Force .

According Wikipedia , Romanian sources they cite the event
as following :

On August 18, 1944, Capt.Şerbănescu took off on his last mission. On that day, he and
his twelve wingmen, together with twelve other fighters from the 9th Fighter Group,
attacked a swarm of Mustangs and Lightnings during the event
when he was last seen going down.

However according 15th Air Force FG's and BG's records evidently the above
information is not entirely accurate . On Aug 18 ,1944 15th AF conducted
numerous extensive missions against Ploesti and Campina oil refineries .The escort
was provided by some 180 fighters plus from 325th,31st,52nd and 332nd Fighter Groups.

At least one FG claimed of having been engaged by 27 plus enemy fighters (Romanian )
ending with 9 confirmed and one probable over Romania. JG52,JG77,JG53 and other have
Luftwaffe units also joined the fight with III.JG77 having lost two fighters .

1st,14th and 82nd FG however and according various records
may have not participated on that day as such no P-38's involved .

In order to further determine who brought him down ,it would be
relevant to know the time ,the location where the last plot
was made including crash site. The claim one "probable" may or
may not be linked to him though was identified as a ME-109

Once additional details become available I will review the the
history records and books available to enable a better fix of
this event.

Alex K