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Romania 2002

13-10-2002 Bucharest

On invitation of the Fortele Aeriene Romane (The Romanian Air Force) we made a trip along some Air Bases. The trip by KLM B737 was very uneventful and we landed at a clouded Boekarest Int airport. On the opposite side is we could see the largest part of the Air Forces transport fleet. Knowing we would start there the next morning we did not pay to much attention to the interesting mix of Russian, American and Romanian build aircraft and helicopters.

Romania has a long and proud aviation heritage. Its air force dates back to 1910 when a small flying corps was established. After the second world war Romania became a Socialist country and as such, fell under the influence of Moscow.

Shortly after the dramatic events from December 1989 the name of the Air Force was changed into its current name Fortele Aeriene ale Romaniei. Very little changed during the first half of the 90s beside the country recovering from the Ceausescu regime. In 1990 Regt.49 at Ianca was the last unit within the Romanian Air Force to retire the MiG-15. The large number of aircraft which was still in storage gradually decreased during the course of the 1990's when most of the aircraft were scrapped. Deliveries of the original batch of MiG-29s had been completed just before the revolution which saw the fall of the Ceaucescu regime and operational flying of the Fulcrum commenced in the spring of 1990


Due to financial constraints and unable to buy new fighter aircraft the Romanian AF decided to invest in the upgrade of the most numerous fighter in its inventory being the MiG-21 Fishbed of which over 200 were still around by 1990. Among the available aircraft the MiG-21M and MiG-21MF were selected as the airframes to be upgraded. The contract initially included 75 Lancer-A air to ground conversions, 25 Lancer-C air-to-air versions and 10 Lancer-B trainers. In the years after the revolution many types where grounded due to several reasons . types included where the IAR-93 the Hong-5 (Il-28) the MiG-23 to name just a few. All in all the air force is down seizing with the Mig-29 being the latest casulty.
The first stop was the museum also situated at the Airport. A fine and interesting collection of aircraft. As it closes at three and we arrive ten minutes to three at the gate was already very much locked. The soldiers present did not speak a word outside there native language but are very helpful explaining we are not going to get in. Pointing to there shoulders and pointing upwards blaming the man up in the chain of command. But not al was lost. There is a big army museum in the city itself. A lot of tanks but also a small collection of aircraft and helicopters

Bucharest Military museum 13/10/2002
IAR 330 L	20
MIG 19 P	224
IAR 93 A	153
IAR 316 B	23