Romania in WWI

7 July 2001, 01:20 PM

I have read thet they fought as an Allied power, mainly against Austria-Hungary, but have been able to find no info on any Aces or aircraft, aside from one photo taken post-war of a Nieuport 17 parked under the wing of a Staaken R.XIVa, and that has no detail whatsoever. Can anyone help me out here?

8 July 2001, 11:16 AM

Yes, Romania was officially allied with France and Britain but lost much of its territory (including Bucharest) to the Central Powers. If there was a Romanian air force (RAF???) it was subordinate to the French in the area. After the war, Romania obtained control of Transylvania, Bukovina, and Bessarabia. Romania was a German ally during most of WW II and did have its own air arm by that time. Eventually over 1000 US fliers were POWs in the country.

8 July 2001, 11:36 AM

I know about the WWII aspect- I run an online representaion of it (Grupul 7 Vanatoare in WarBirds).

BTW- the name of their air arm, at least in WWII, was "Aeronautica Regala Romana", or "Royal Romanian Aeronautics", usually abbreviated ARR.

I saw somewhere that they were successful against Bulgaria prior to WWI (That AAR that is), flying French aircraft in the Second Balkan War (1913). I just wish I could find more about their involvement in the Great War.

9 July 2001, 01:50 PM

Romainia did have an Air Force in WWI, although not very big. The French also had detachments there. I have seen some photos of Nieuport 11 aircraft with Romanian markings. Two different types of roundels as a matter of fact. One shows two ring roundels, of what color I don't know. The other is a well known photo of ex-Escadrille Lafayette pilot Bert Hall standing in front of a Nieuport 11 with a fuselage roundel with a cross in the center of the roundel and breaking out of the edges of the ring. I don't have any of these, but have seen them in various publications.

9 July 2001, 05:53 PM

I would assume the markings were the same as they were right up to the start of Operation Barbarossa and after the August 1944 coup, a Blue-Yellow-Red roundel and fin flash in the French pattern. They took their cue heavily from the French air service. Do you remember any of these publications?

Soderbaum · 14 July 2001, 02:19 AM

Hi

I think Keith or similar who sometimes visit the Forum says that there exist an serie of articles about the Romanian Air Force during WWI...published probably sometime 1960s or 1970s..
I have tried to obtain these without succes..

Also the French magazine LGA published during the War has some articles/notes about the War on the Romanian front..

VBR
Gunnar