Romanian Air Force Press Tour 2006

Words and photography Michael van der Mee

2006 marked the 100^th anniversary of manned flight in Romania. To celebrate this milestone the Romanian Air Force (Fortele Ariene Romane) organized an Air Show (RoIAS) at Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base situated 30 kilometer of the Black Sea Coast.

Prior to the Air Show a press tour was organized to all active Air Force Bases throughout Romania and Touchdown Aviation was one of the organizations invited. As Romania is one of the few European users of the MiG 21, or better; LanceR as it is called since the local upgrade of 114 MiG 21MF jets were made, we accepted the invitation without any hassle. 

We traveled via Zurich to Bucharest International Airport on July 23^rd to start a trip of a life time traveling trough the Carpathian's and Transylvania -home to Count Dracula- in our rental car; a Dacia Logan!

A week full of sun and very high temperatures followed and thanks to the outstanding cooperation of the Romanian Air force on all bases we visited it became a fantastic tour ending at the Romanian International Air Show 2006 at Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base.

In the sections below you can find the report of the trip through Romania on all the active bases and their associated units and aircraft.

Credit:

The author would like to thank one person in special for the effort she made in organizing such a big event with so many participating media; Captain Commander Liliane Tanese of the Public Relations Office - Headquarters Romanian Air Force. Without her efforts this all would not have been possible!

Baza Aeriana 71 Câmpia Turzii

Câmpia Turzii was the first base we would visit. As we arrived the sunday night we were early at the base entrance to be welcomed by the RoAF Public Affairs Officer Lieutenant Commander Marian-Ion Dobre.

After a few words of welcome from the base commander Colonel Ion Avram we got a briefing about the history of the base and the roles of the two stationed escadrilles.

Câmpia Turzii originates back to the 1950s as it was build in 1952-53. Only for a relative short period operational RoAF fighters are stationed at the base.

In January 2001 the first LanceR's arrived with the unit then converting from the MiG 21M and MiG 21MF. When Baza Aeriana 93 at Timisoara closed in 2004, its ground attack LanceR As transferred to Câmpia Turzii.

The 71^st Fighter Regiment equipped with LanceR is stationed at the base since June 1987. The base is home to 711 Escadrila Aviatie Vânâtoare (Esc.) flying the LanceR A and B in the ground attack role and 712 Esc. flying the LanceR B and C in the air defense role.

Next to the fighterunits, two Escadrilas; 713 and 714 flying the license built IAR330 Puma are also stanioned on the base. The 71^st takes regulary part in various national and multinational exercises in Romania and abroad with LanceRs as well as with IAR330 Puma's equipped for transport or MEDEVAC.

After the briefing we went to the flightlines to photograph the aircraft as well on the flightlines, runway and in the hangers. We had the luck to see four IAR330 Pumas and five LanceRs departing to Mihail Kogălniceanu where the RoIAS 2006 took place. Normally the RoAF does not fly on monday at all.

Together with this and thanks to the very helpful RoAF personnel, who removed covers when possible and allowed us close to the runway we had a great first visit of the tour!

Baza Aeriana 95 Bacău

Bacau Air Base was founded in 1920 and has been a Aeronautics Training Center throughout the most of it's more then eighty years of existence.

Since most of the basic training for the Air Force is now centralized at Boboc AB Bacău operates LanceR As with the 951 Escadrila in the ground attack as the operational training unit. 

The wing's role is to defend the airspace in the area of responsibility; train LanceR A Squadrons for CAS missions; develop flight training programs in order to train new instructors for day and night, all-weather operations and  to train and improve skills in using ammunition, and maintain/increase the physical and psychological resistance

The Bacău based LanceRs where the first in Romanian history to strafe during night with live armament.

Together with the LanceRs a unit of IAR330 Puma's is also stationed at Bacău; 952 Escadrila. It performs next to Medical Evacuation (MedEvac) also the operational training for the other IAR330 Puma units in the RoAF for SAR, airlift and recce missions.

With the 2005 flooding the IAR330's of Bacau rescued over 500 people and delivered over 200 tons of medical supplies to the struck area of Comanesti.

Sadly during our visit no flying activities took place, as most flyable jets left for RoIAS 2006, so we only made shots of the flight lines and maintenance areas.

The Romanian International Air Show 2006 at Mihail Kogălniceanu was opened with the LanceR A solo display of Captain Commander Cãtãlin Bãhneanu from Baza Aeriana 95 Bacău.

Scoala de Aplicatie pentru Fortele Aerienne Boboc

The Air Force Training School "Aurel Vliacu" is situated at Boboc Air Base, 12 KM North-East of Bazau. It supplies the Air Force with operational training for all Officers, warrant Officers and noncommissioned Officers in accordance with the real training needs of the three branches within the RoAF:

- Aviation
- Anti Aircraft Artillery
- Ground Based Air Defense/Radio Locations

Together with this since 2004 an English Language Learning Center is added to provide good English training to all RoAF Officers.

The base has currently the responsibility in training new pilots on the IAK 52 (the license built Yak 52). After initial training they move on to the ingenious IAR 99 Basic and IARC 99 Soim for the advanced jet training. The school also has a few L-39ZA's on strength. The based Antonov 2's are used for parachute training. Five squadrons are based on the base:

- 201 Escadrila with IAK 52 for basic flying training
- 202 Escadrila with An-2 for parachute training
- 203 Escadrila with IAR-99 for advanced jet training
- 204 Escadrila with IAR-99C and L-39 for advanced jet training
- 206 Escadrila with the IAR316B for helicopter training and liason

Together with the real flying, the technical school is also situated at the base and uses an IAR316B, IAR330 and different MiG 21 versions as instructional air frames.

As the case with Bacău, very little flying activities where going on as we were at the base, also because of the hardened runway was undergoing reconstruction so the jets were all on other bases in Romania. A few An-2's flew from the grass strip, but the light position prevented us to make descend shots.

After this base visit we drove to off to visit Baza 90 Transport Aerian Otopeni.

Baza de transport Arien 90 - Bucureşti-Otopeni

As we requested a change of schedule for the last two days we arrived at Otopeni Wednesday late afternoon instead of Thursday. Otopeni is home to the following units:

901 Escadrila: C-130B/H
902 Escadrila: An-24, An-26 and An-30
903 Escadrila: IAR330L
904 Escadrila: IAR330 SOCAT
905 Escadrila: IAR330 SOCAT

Also operating from Otopeni is Romavia, the state airline which operates the BAC1-11, BAe146, B707 and Mi8. Sadly only the BAC1-11s where present during our visit as the president was in the United States and therefore the BAe146 and B707 where gone.

Since October 25 1995 the airlift capability made a significant step towards the accomplishment of the interoperability within the NATO structure, purchasing 2 (and subsequently other 2) C-130 Hercules aircraft, which doubled the airlift capability and tactical range.

In October 1997, 901 Escadrila accomplished an historical mission, the first military overseas mission flown by Romanian C-130 aircrews on the route Otopeni - Marietta (Atlanta - USA) - Otopeni.

In October 2004, the 61^st Helicopter Regiment was transferred within 90^th Airlift Base, adding IAR 330 PUMA SOCAT to its inventory. The 90^th Airlift Base has also a MEDEVAC capability.

After being welcomed at the gate we were directly guided to the flight lines to make our photos. We where given the opportunity to walk around freely and make the photos as we liked.

One the firemen was wearing a RNLAF 298 Sqn badge and after one of the guys of our group talked with him, we were able to get on the roof of the fire truck and driven around the flight lines!

After making some rearrangements with the HQ we spit of the group, so that night we drove on to Feteşti, our next stop!

Baza Aeriana 86 Borcea-Feteşti

Our last visit of the week to an operational air base, was Feteşti, we arranged that we could visit the base one day ahead of the others so we could spend the whole friday at Mihail Kogălniceanu.

Since 1997 Baza 86 has begun an intensive training to make it able to carry out joint missions with NATO PfP forces. A special training program has been initiated, aiming at a higher level of interoperability.

By the end of 2000, as a result of the Romanian Air Force reforms, the structure of the 86^th Airbase was changed again. The 86th Airbase has now a modular structure, fitting a NATO’s airbase model and offering a real background for achieving the appropriate interoperability at this level, with declared purpose to provide all that it is necessary to plan, organize, command and execute the missions received.

Feteşti is just like Câmpia Turzii and Bacău home to two units flying the LanceR A, B and C; Escadrila 861 and 862. And as all fixed wing assets for the formation flypasts at RoIAS 2006 where also at this base, we expected a lot of activity on the base.

Thanks to the fantastic cooperation of Capt. Commander Liliane Tanese and Major Cristian Popovic it was arranged to be on the base at 9:30 that day. Major Popovic picked us up at the gate and we drove to the shelter area next to the flight lines.

We walked up the the taxitracks as the IAK 52s where about to start for the rehearsals of the formation flypast for the RoIAS 2006. After the IAKs, IAR 99s and L-39s returned from the rehearsals and we photographed them we left we to the other end of the runway and waited for the LanceRs to return.

After a few formation flypasts and a couple of low passes the LanceRs landed and we where able to photograph them on the taxiways when they just left the runway.

As the LanceRs don't taxi far before being refueled and towed back to the the flight line this was quite a unique moment!

As the Major had also French cadets to attent to (there was a French Hercules on base) we left directly after all LanceR's returned and drove up to Mihail Kogălniceanu for RoIAS 2006!