Royal Romanian Air Force

The Air Arm of the Royal Romanian forces in World War II was officially named the Aeronautica Regala Romana (ARR), or the Romanian Royal Aeronautics, though it is more commonly referred to in English histories as the Forţele Aeriene Regale ale României (Royal Romanian Air Force, FARR), or simply Forţele Aeriene Române (Romanian Air Force). It provided support to land forces, carrying out reconnaissance and mounting air raids between other missions.

Royal Romanian Air Force
Insignia
Active	1941-1944
Country	Kingdom of Romania
Type	Air Force
Role	Aerial warfare
Size	322
Part of	Royal Romanian forces
Garrison/HQ	Bucharest
Nickname(s)	ARR
Colours	Yellow and Blue
Engagements	World War II Battle of Stalingrad Hungarian Invasion of Transylvania
Commanders
Notable Commanders	Michael I of Romania
Insignia
Ensign
Roundel

Insignia

The insignia of the FARR was a yellow cross (King Michael’s monogram cross) in the fuselage and upper and lower wings, and the national colours on the tail, with a yellow engine cowling and vertical band on the fuselage. It was later changed at tricolor (red-yellow-blue) roundels on the fuselage and wings, and a tricolor band on the tail.

History

FARR flew aircraft from Germany and Italy, with their own and other foreign aircraft, as well as captured enemy aircraft. The Royal Romanian Air Force fought against the Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légierö (Royal Hungarian Air Force) during the Hungarian annexation of Transylvania. The most basic unit of their formations was the squadron (Grup). The Romanian Air Force fought alongside the Luftwaffe during the advance into the Ukraine and Crimea, until the Battle of Stalingrad, when the Southern Luftwaffe Command was installed in Bucharest. It also carried out some reconnaissance and patrol missions over the Black Sea alongside Bulgarian units. The Romanian Air Force was tasked with the air defence of the Ploieşti oil installations, and also Bucharest against Allied air raids, and to protect Axis convoys in the Black Sea. These units fought against the USAAF and RAF during their raids against Romania.

The main models of aircraft used include the PZL P.24F, Hawker Hurricane, Heinkel He 112, Messerschmitt 109E and G types, Messerschmitt 110 (for night defence), IAR 80A were used too, alongside other types of interceptors used by the Luftwaffe units in area.

When the country was invaded by Soviet forces, King Mihai I (Michael) ordered Romanian forces to attack Axis forces, and the FARR was allied with Soviet Voenno-vozdushniye Sily against German and Hungarian forces in Transylvania and Slovakia, though some units continued to fight with the Axis in Luftwaffe volunteer units.

Romanian Air Aces

Dress uniform of a wing commander (“Căpitan-Comandor”) 1930-40.

• Horia Agarici
• Constantin Cantacuzino
• Cristea Chirvăsuţă
• Ion Dicezare
• Tudor Greceanu
• Ioan Maga
• Ioan Mălăcescu
• Ion Milu
• Ion Mucenica
• Constantin Lungulescu
• Alexandru Şerbănescu
• Daniel Vizanty

Structure

A preserved Junkers Ju 88 in the National Museum of the United States Air Force, painted with the Romanian markings it carried during World War II

• Grupul 3° Picaj, Corpul 2° Aerian, Luftflotte 4, South Russia Front, Winter of 1943-44.
• Grupul 3° Picaj, Corpul 1° Aerian, Cioara-Dolcesti, Romania August 1944; under orders of Luftwaffe, Luftflotte Kommando 4 with commands in Debrecen, Hungary.
• 6th Fighter Group
• 7th Fighter Group
• 8th Fighter Group (1941–1943)
• 9th Fighter Group
• 5th Bomber Group

Aircraft companies

• Societatea Pentru Exploatări Tehnice (SET), 1923, Bucharest
• Industria Aeronautică Română (IAR), 1925, Braşov
• Întreprinderea de Construcții Aeronautice Românești (ICAR), 1932, Bucharest

Aircraft constructed under foreign license

• Heinkel He 111 H (30 examples by Brasov)
• Messerschmitt Bf 109G (15 109G-4a and 60 109G-6a IAR built examples by Brasov (1944-1947))
• Savoia-Marchetti SM.79JR (76 examples by Brasov)
• PZL P.11f (80 examples by IAR)
• PZL P.24E (50 examples by IAR)
• IAR 36 (Messerschmitt design) (5 examples by IAR)

Enemy aircraft interned or captured

Further information: List of aircraft of the Romanian Air Force § Interned or captured

As a result of the Soviet Invasion of Poland, a large number of Polish Air Force aircraft were interned in Romania. Also, some Soviet aircraft were captured during World War II, as well as a few American B-24 Liberator bombers.

Aircraft of RRAF

Main article: List of aircraft of the Romanian Air Force

Aircraft manufactured in Romania until the end of World War II

All of the aircraft listed below were completed before the end of World War II. Prototypes are omitted from the list. Unless specified otherwise, all aircraft machine guns have the caliber of 7.92 mm. All of the data is sourced from:[1]

Model	Type	Number	Armament
SET 7K	Training, communication, observation	20	2 x Lewis guns (twin mount)
SET 7KB	Reconnaissance and observation	20	2 x Lewis guns (twin mount) 1 x Vickers machine gun 6 x 12 kg bombs
SET 7KD	Communication	20	1 x Lewis gun
Potez 25	Reconnaissance bomber	184	3 x machine guns 200 kg of bombs
IAR 37	Light bomber	50	4 x Browning machine guns 12 x 50 kg bombs
IAR 38	Reconnaissance and artillery spotting	75	3 x Browning machine guns 24 x 12 kg bombs
IAR 39	Reconnaissance and light bomber	255	3 x Browning machine guns 24 x 12 kg bombs
Fieseler Fi 156	Reconnaissance and communications	16	1 x MG 15 machine gun
PZL P.11F	Fighter	95	4 x FN Browning machine guns 24 x 12 kg bombs (38) Grenade launchers (57)
PZL P.24E	Fighter	25	2 x machine guns 2 x 20 mm autocannons 2 x 50 kg (110 lb) bombs Grenade launchers
Bf 109 G-4	Fighter	17	2 x 20 mm MG 151 autocannons 2 x 13 mm MG 131 heavy machine guns 1 x 250 kg/4 x 50 kg bomb(s)
IAR 80	Fighter	49	4 x FN Browning machine guns
IAR 80A	Fighter	91	6 x FN Browning machine guns
IAR 80B	Fighter	50	2 x 13.2 mm FN Browning heavy machine guns 4 x FN Browning machine guns
IAR 80C	Fighter	50	2 x 20 mm Ikaria autocannons 4 x FN Browning machine guns
IAR 81	Fighter and dive bomber	50	6 x FN Browning machine guns (4 for 10 of them) 2 x 13.2 mm FN Browning heavy machine gun (10 of them) 1 x 225 bomb 2 x 50 kg bombs
IAR 81A	Fighter and dive bomber	10	2 x 13.2 mm FN Browning heavy machine guns 4 x FN Browning machine guns 1 x 225 kg bomb 2 x 50 kg bombs
IAR 81C	Fighter	148	2 x 20 mm MG 151 autocannons 2 x FN Browning machine guns Werfer-Granate 21 (1)
JRS-79B	Bomber	36	5 x machine guns 1,575 kg of bombs
JRS-79B1	Bomber	31	1 x 20 mm Ikaria autocannon 7 x machine guns 1,400 kg of bombs
Savoia-Marchetti SM.62	Flying boat	5	4 x machine guns 600 kg of bombs

References

1. Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, pp. 239-272

External links

• Official site of the Romanian Air Force
• http://users.accesscomm.ca/magnusfamily/ww2rom.htm