Romanian Air Force in the Caucasus 1942

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Hello Seaplanes and Andy,

of course, I searched on germandocsinrussia. Nothing relevant.
Obviously, the last hope is to find some mentions in the documents of the German 17th Army, in the temporary subordination of which were Romanian troops in the Caucasus direction.
I have looked at these documents before, but at that time I did not look for any mention of Romanian aviation in them.

Best regards,
Andrey

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Andrey,

This is very belated and not directly relevant but.....

An interesting site (http://www.iar80.org/cu-o-escadrila-de- ... n-crimeea/) has the operational history of the Romanian 49th Fighter Squadron on maritime protection duties in 1943-44. (This can be read in English as well). The unit's main role was to protect Axis convoys in and out of Sevastopol in the Crimea from Soviet air attack. (Today its bases in the Crimea are in use by the Russian Air Force and have been struck more than once by Ukrainian missiles and drones)

By this stage the IAR80 was becoming obsolescent and was outperformed by most Soviet types it faced. Nevertheless, the unit had 15 confirmed victories, most of them twin-engined bombers, (9 Bostons, 2 DB3s, 2 Pe2s, 1 IL2 and one Airacobra), and seven probables.

A new piece of information in it is that the Romanian and German air commands in Crimea tried to convert the IAR80C to carry depth bombs for anti-submarine work. Practice exercises were carried out but the conversion was not adopted.

The parent site of this article is dedicated to building a flying replica of the IAR80 and contains much other information on the IAR80/81.

Sid.

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Hello Sid,

Thank you! There really is some interesting material on the website. Although, on the whole, unlike in 1942, quite a lot is known about the Romanian Air Force’s involvement in 1943-44.
The content of the article raises some questions. Some of the events mentioned either didn't happen at all, or took place on different dates (admittedly, I have only checked a few of them).

Best regards,
Andrey

[James A Pratt III]

on Esc 49 claims BCRS vol 6 has:
23 Jun 43 3 DB-3 claims real no VVS losses all VVS aircraft were PE-2, PE-3 and Bostons

7 Jul 43 3 claims real 1 IL-4 5th GMATP lost

War Diary Admiral Black Sea which covers the period Dec 1941 to Dec 1943 with some gaps is online at archive.org which may be of some use

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Hello James,

War Diary of Admiral Black Sea is available on Invenio without any gaps, and on NARA as well, although there are occasional missing pages in the NARA rolls.
As regards the Romanian Air Force in the Caucasus and Crimea, it is 1942 that presents problems; 1943 is much easier.

Best regards,
Andrey

[James A Pratt III]

Thanks Andrey I will try and get the missing parts. one day.

I left out 7 July 43 another IL-4 was shot down by AA from the Rumanian destroyer Maraseti

[James A Pratt III]

i think on Warspot.ru there are articles dealing with the Naval-Air war in the Black Sea. Sadly I can't get warspot.ru and tacticmedia.ru in the US anymore.

[igorrB]

Warspot is dead now. But i think you can get tacticmedia via VPN

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Hello James,

Originally Posted by James A Pratt III

I left out 7 July 43 another IL-4 was shot down by AA from the Rumanian destroyer Maraseti

Yes, and the 2nd Il-4, shot down by fighters, was apparently first hit by AA fire from steamers.

Originally Posted by James A Pratt III

i think on Warspot.ru there are articles dealing with the Naval-Air war in the Black Sea

You probably mean, among other things, my big article about the German Kerch-Anapa convoys and the fight of the Soviet air force and navy against them.

Warspot is dead, but copies of the articles have been preserved on web.archive.org, for example:
https://web.archive.org/web/20210207...editsu-nachalo

But some of the images have not been preserved on web.archive.org. As I have now discovered, the article (all 6 parts) with all the images available here:

https://m.ok.ru/group/70000002864589...t9u56645493585
https://m.ok.ru/group/70000002864589...8uspdy21531095
https://m.ok.ru/group/70000002864589...y049d484284239
https://m.ok.ru/group/70000002864589...8p9xh710122949
https://m.ok.ru/group/70000002864589...57697416424397
https://m.ok.ru/group/70000002864589...yjus1342238781

I wrote this article because I was curious about what happened there and why it happened that way.I believe I have found the answers.
On the German side, this concerns mainly the Kriegsmarine, but the role of the Luftwaffe is also reflected, as far as the survived documents allow. In particular, the successes of Werner Quast (4./JG52) and the circumstances of his capture are described.

Originally Posted by James A Pratt III

Sadly I can't get warspot.ru and tacticmedia.ru in the US anymore

Is this website blocked in the USA? Surprisingly.

Best regards,
Andrey

[James A Pratt III]

Tanks for the help.
problem the web.archive.org is in Russian and I don't the language
as for the m.ok.ru/group on all of them when I logged on all I got was "This site can't be reached"