NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Constantin Cantacuzino (aviator)

Constantin Cantacuzino (nicknamed Bâzu; November 11, 1905–May 26, 1958) was a Romanian aviator, one of his country's leading World War II fighter aces, and a member of the Cantacuzino family. November 11 is the 315th day of the year (316th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 50 days remaining. ... 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar). ... May 26 is the 146th day of the year (147th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Fighter Ace is an online multiplayer computer game in which one flies World War II fighter and bomber planes in combat against other players and virtual pilots. ... The sarcophagus of Princess BÄƒlaÅŸa Cantacuzino, kept in the National Museum of Romanian History The Cantacuzino (CantacuzÃ¨ne) family is an old boyar family of Wallachia that claims to have its roots in the Byzantine Greek emperor John VI Kantakouzenos. ...

World War II

In 1939 he won the national aerial aerobatics contest with his Bü 133 Jungmeister and in 1941 was named chief-pilot of the Romanian national air transport company LARES. Even though this was a comfortable and cozy job, he managed to get in the front line as a fighter pilot in the 53rd Fighter Squadron (equipped with Hurricane Mk. I). After the capture of Odessa, the Romanian Army reduced the number of front line troops. Bâzu was one of the reservists who were sent home. He retook his position at LARES. However he pulled some strings and managed to return to active duty in 1943. On 26 April 1943 he was remobilized and assigned to the 7th Fighter Group, which was equipped with the new Bf-109. On 5 May he arrived on the front line and was named commander of the 58th Fighter Squadron. On 29 June, he and his wingman engaged 4 Yaks, 2 La-5s and 4 Spitfires ,while trying to protect 3 Romanian Ju-88s. His wingman was badly hit and forced to return to base. He continued the fight on his own and shot down 2 Spitfires. He was also damaged, but managed to escape and make a belly landing. Unfortunately, two of the bombers were destroyed. In July he flew both day and night missions, even though his Gustav was not equipped for low-visibility flying. Bâzu tried to stop the Soviet night bombings of his airfield. The Germans protested, considered him a little mad, so he eventually gave up the night missions. On 27 July 1943, he shot down the VVS flying ace Nikolay F. Khimushkin (11 kills). Between 2 and 5 August he shot down 9 airplanes (4 Yaks and 5 Il-2s), raising his score to 27. 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full year calendar). ... The Frecce Tricolori aerobatic team of the Italian Air Force, flying at the Royal International Air Tattoo, Fairford, England, in 2005 The UK Utterly Butterly display team perform an aerobatic maneuvre with their Boeing Stearmans Red Arrows Hawks in Concorde formation Aerobatics is the demonstration of flying maneuvers for recreation... The BÃ¼cker BÃ¼ 133 Jungmeister was an advanced trainer of the Luftwaffe in the 1930s. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... TAROM is the flag carrier airline of Romania. ... The Hawker Hurricane was a British single-seat fighter aircraft designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. ... For other uses, see Odessa (disambiguation). ... The Romanian Army (Armata RomÃ¢nÄƒ) consists of three branches: Romanian Land Forces Romanian Naval Forces Romanian Air Force The term army is used in Romania when referring to the entire military, while land forces deal only with the actual army itself. ... Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... (Bf 109 was the official Reichsluftfahrtministerium designation, though some late-war aircraft actually carried the Me 109 designation stamped onto their aircraft type plates. ... Binomial name Bos grunniens Linnaeus, 1766 Subspecies Bos grunniens grunniens Bos grunniens mutus The yak (Bos grunniens) is a long-haired humped domestic bovine found in Tibet and throughout the Himalayan region of south central Asia, as well as in Mongolia. ... The Lavochkin La-5 (Ð›Ð°Ð²Ð¾Ñ‡ÐºÐ¸Ð½ Ð›Ð°-5) was a Soviet fighter aircraft of World War II. It was a development and refinement of the LaGG-3 and was one of the Soviet Air Forces most capable types of warplane. ... The term Spitfire can refer to: a euphemistic translation of Cacafuego, a Spanish treasure galleon captured by Sir Francis Drake, a warplane, see Supermarine Spitfire a ship, see HMS Spitfire a movie from 1934, see Spitfire (1934) The US title of the British 1942 film The First of the Few. ... The Junkers Ju 88 was a WW2 Luftwaffe twin-engine multi-role aircraft. ... A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ... VVS is a three letter acronym which may refer to: VVS, Very Very Slightly Included, a way of describing the clarity of a diamond. ... The Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik (Russian: ) was a ground attack aircraft of World War II, and was produced by the Soviet Union in huge numbers; in combination with its successor, the Ilyushin Il-10, a total of 36,163 were built. ...

On 5 August he was alone on patrol and he encountered a Soviet formation about 40-50 planes strong (Il-2s and Yaks). He realized that he couldn't have obtained outstanding results, but he could try to create them some problems. He dove into the Il-2 formation and shot down 2 of them before he was attacked by the Soviet fighters. He managed to shake them off, with the exception of one of them, which soon joined Cantacuzino's kill collection. Soviet redirects here. ...

The day of 16 August was an excellent day for the pilots of the 7th Fighter Group. They scored 22 confirmed kills and 5 probable, with Cantacuzino killing 3 (2 La-5s and 1 Il-2). On 28 August he also received the Iron Cross, 1st class. A stylized version of the Iron Cross, the emblem of the Bundeswehr, Germanys Armed Forces. ...

In the autumn of 1943 Bâzu got sick and was interned to a hospital and then had to stay a while away from the front to rest. On 10 February 1944 he returned to active duty in the 7th Fighter Group, which was sent to the front with the Soviets in Moldova. On 15 April, there was a USAAF raid and cpt. av. (r) Cantacuzino and his wingmen attacked the bomber formations and shot down 6 Liberators (the prince got one himself). He continued flying missions against the VVS and had a few victories. Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... USAAF recruitment poster. ... Liberators can refer to: The name given to the assassins of Julius Caesar (most notably, Brutus and Cassius) The nickname of the U.S. 14th Armored Division This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... VVS is a three letter acronym which may refer to: VVS, Very Very Slightly Included, a way of describing the clarity of a diamond. ...

After 23 August 1944, when Romania quit the Axis, the Luftwaffe started bombing Bucharest, from airfields close to the capital, which were still in German hands. The remains of the 7th and 9th Fighter Groups were brought in to protect the capital. Bâzu shot down 3 He-111s on this occasion. August 23 is the 235th day of the year (236th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... The word axis has several meanings: In mathematics, axis can mean: A straight line around which a geometric figure can be rotated. ... This or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Status Capital of Romania Mayor Adriean Videanu, since 2005 Area 238 kmÂ² Population (2005) 1,924,959[1] Density 8,088 inh/kmÂ² Geographical coordinates Web site http://www. ... The Heinkel He 111 was the primary Luftwaffe medium bomber during the early stages of World War II, and is perhaps the most famous symbol of the German side of the Battle of Britain. ...

Cantacuzino was then given a special mission: to transport Lieutenant-Colonel James Gunn III, the highest ranking American POW in Romania, to the airbase at Foggia and then to lead back the USAAF airplanes that were coming to take the POWs home. He landed after two hours and 5 minutes of flight. He returned with a Mustang, because the Gustav couldn't be fueled. He needed only a flight to get used to it and dazzled the Americans with his aerobatics, which he couldn't help himself not to execute. Lieutenant Colonel (Lieutenant-Colonel in English from the French grades spelling) is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine corps and air forces of the world, typically ranking above a Major and below a Colonel. ... There is more than one person with the name James Gunn. ... The Villa Comunale (Municipal Park) of Foggia. ... Mustang can refer to: The word mustang, from Mexican Spanish mestengo, from Spanish mesteÃ±o, ultimately from Latin animalus mixtus, mixed breed animal: Mustang (horse), a feral horse living on the western or southwestern plains of the US. P-51 Mustang, a World War II military aircraft P-82 Twin...

Cantacuzino was credited with 43 aerial victories (one shared) and 11 unconfirmed. According to the system in effect much of the war, his point total was 69, highest in the Romanian Air Force. The Romanian Air Force (Romanian: ) has an air force headquarters, an operational command, four air bases and an air defense brigade. ...

After World War II

After the war ended, Cantacuzino was demobilized and returned to LARES. Times changed in Romania. The USSR imposed a communist regime that started confiscating private properties and imprisoning the old elite and all those who dared not to think like them. Bâzu lost all his land and soon his wife left him. He managed to escape to Italy in 1947 and then he settled down in Spain. There he was helped by the Romanian community to buy himself an airplane, in order to earn his living at air shows. This article is about a form of government in which the state operates under the control of a Communist Party. ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ...

Personal Life

He was born in Bucharest. His father was Mihai Cantacuzino and his mother Maria Rosetti; they were both from old Romanian noble families. After his father died, Maria Rosetti married for a second time with George Enescu (Romania's best composer and a world class violinist). Constantin went to high-school in Bucharest. He loved motor sports and he could afford to practice them all the time. He was an excellent biker, winning several races, and driver. He set a new record on the Paris-Bucharest race. He also played tennis and was the captain of the Romanian ice hockey team at the World Championship in 1933. George Enescu George Enescu (pronunciation in Romanian: ; known in France as Georges Enesco) (August 19, 1881, Liveni â€“ May 4, 1955, Paris) was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher, preeminent Romanian musician of the 20th century, and one of the greatest performers of his time. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... A violinist is an instrumentalist who plays the violin. ... Auto racing (also known as automobile racing or autosport) is a sport involving racing automobiles. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du TrocadÃ©ro. ... For other uses, see Tennis (disambiguation). ... Ice hockey, known simply as hockey in areas where it is more common than field hockey, is a team sport played on ice. ...

Units served

Combat missions: 608 For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... Fighter has a number of meanings: A fighter aircraft is a warplane designed to destroy other warplanes in combat. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday. ...

References

Contents

World War II

After World War II

Personal Life

Units served

References

See also

Contents

World War II GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

After World War II

Personal Life

Units served

References

See also

World War II