Customer Reviews

Rumanian Air Force, The Prime Decade 1938-1947 - Aircraft Specials series (6080)

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Wery good book by a tireless historian and researcher of the air forces of Eastern Europe. Until the publication of this book, the story of the Romanian aviation in WW2 was a patchy scattering of articles in various Romanian and foreign magazines and maybe a chapter or two in some books. This is the first book dedicated exclusively to the Romanian Air Force in WW2 (and until now in September 2002, still the only one out there). It is a one-stop source of information for anyone with an interst in the Romanian aviation:
For the historians it gives dates, diagrams, unit strenghts, inventories.
For the modeller it offers a wealth of subjects, colour schemes, I was inspired for plenty of projects by this book.
For those that are simply interested in the expoits of the aviators, there are plenty of stories of bravery, victory, survival against odds, and defeat. A little bit of something for everyone.
It will not disapoint anyone genuinely interested in the history of the Romanian aviation and its pilots.

If you want to read about the Romanian AF during WWII, this book gives you an excellent short overview of the ARR's campaigns.

Very well written by Mr. Dénes, "The Prime Decade, 1938-47" offers a remarkable well-balanced and unbiased history telling, filled with facts and combat stories, supported by an extensive picture material, as well as color paintings of aircraft used by the Aeronautica Regalã Românã (Royal Romanian Air Force or ARR).
Further more this is one of the very few English language publications about the topic.

The work starts with a short summing up of the events just before the era discussed. It explains the circumstances and events that lead to the situation Romania found it self in at the prelude to, and beginning of WWII.
Then the brief history of the ARR is told on a campaign basis: Bessarabia, Stalingrad, Defense of the Homeland, Against the Luftwaffe, The "Western" Front, and The Last Year of the War.
Hereafter the different branches of the ARR are examined: Fighters, Bombers, Short- and Long-Range Reconnaissance and Army Co-operation Aircraft, Seaplanes(!), Transport and Training and Liaison Aircraft. Here the author goes in detail with the story telling. Most is said about the fighters, but the bombers and especially the seaplanes are interesting reading too.

Besides the interesting reading, one can enjoy 8 full color pages with 37 different aircraft (P.Z.L. P.11, 23, 24 and 37B, Hawker Hurricane Mk.I, I.A.R. 38, 80A(2) and 81, Messerschitt Bf-109 E-3/E-7/G-1/G-2/R6/G-6, Focke-Wulf 190A, Messerschmitt Bf-110C, Heinkel He 111 E-1/H-3 and 112B, MiG-3, Savoia S-79B and J.R.S.79B1, Junkers Ju-87 D-3/D-5, Ju-88 A-4/D-1 and W34, Potez 63-11 A3s and 650, Henschel Hs-129 B-2, Bristol Blenheim Mk.I, Cant Z.501B, Lockhed A10 Electra, Fleet F-10G, S.E.T. 7Kd, 'Nardi F.N. 305, Fieseler Fi-156Ca-3.)
The back of the book has 8 color pictures of a He-111H-3, two I.A.R. 80s, an Emil 7, a Fleet F-10G and a Ju-88 D-1. (This last plane can show to be quite "expensive", since it made the author of these lines go and visit the AF Museum at Dayton, OH... Also a MUST, nothing compares to it!)

The book also contains a multi-lingual map of South-East Central Europe and the Northern Balkans, showing clearly the borders after 1940, when Hungary, at the 2nd Vienna Arbitral Award, was awarded 40% back of her territory lost to Romania in 1918, an annexation made final at the Treaty of Trianon 1920.

The only thing this work lacks is a "few" scale line drawings of the most important/interesting aircraft, such as the I.A.R. 80/81 or the Ar-196 (which is completely absent in the picture material).

This squadron/signal publication (6080) follows the books about the Polish, Hungarian and Finnish Air Forces during WWII. Hopefully the Slovak, Croat, Bulgarian and Yugoslav Air Forces will follow soon!

This booklet published by Squadron/Signal is a real prowess. In 84 pages, the author was able to pack an unbilievable amount of information on the Rumanian Air Force for the 10 years covered (1938-1947).

1) A breathtaking painting of a dogfight between P-38s and a Rumanian I.A.R. by artist Don Greer on the front cover

2) A good A4 size map covering Central Europe (Hungary, Rumania, part of the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, and neigbouring area) all too often forgotten in many books

3) 8 pages containing 41 high quality color profiles plus details of some of the emblems used. All those can be checked against the real b&w pictures shown in the book.

4) 140+ b&w pictures of surprisingly crisp and clear quality, most of which have never been seen in the West yet.

5) 6 color pictures on the back cover

On the top of that the author still finds room to give us numerous charts with data and a quite detailed history of those 10 years including the role of the fighters, bombers, seaplanes, transport and reconnaissance airplanes and their engagements on the various fronts of the war.

Don't get fooled by the limited number of pages ! With a different layout and format this would actually be a 150 pages if it were published by say Motorbooks International. Great value for money !

Author Denes Bernad is a noted historian who often contributes on internet forums of experts. He specialised in aviation and air warfare of Central and Eastern Europe in the Thirties and Fourties. Of Hungarian extraction he has been a resident of Canada for many years.

Since no Rumanian authors have ever produced books on the Rumanian Air Force in English, this is the only one you will find on the market and will probably be also the best one for several years to come. You may find yourself captivated even if like me you only have a remote interest in those small Axis air forces.

Good book if one keeps strictly to the technical information, still difficult to imagine that all was collected in 15 years (very fragmented 15 years!). Despite his claims of objectivity the author cannot liberate himself from the mentality generated by his own ethnical background. Under the mask of "truth" he carefully chooses his words and under the pressure of "brevity" he carefully chooses what historical events to present and under what form. Typical reaction for the hungarian lobby that is very active in USA. Hence, Romania "annexed" territories after WWI, when in fact each territory united after plebiscites or parliamentary votes took place, the Northern Transilvania was "returned" to Hungary when in fact it was annexed with Hitler's help. And so forth.. Another much more important drawback, is the complete lack of presentation of Romania's major role in the early development of aviation. Starting with Traian Vuia's world first mechanical lift-up in 1906 in Paris (before Wright brother's) to Aurel Vlaicu's planes that introduced most of the today's plane components and Coanda's first world jet-engine plane.