THE REVIVAL of the AERONAUTICS MILITARY INDUSTRY at the TIME of the COMMUNIST STATE

ROMANIAN MILITARY THINKING THE REVIVAL OF THE AERONAUTICS MILITARY INDUSTRY AT THE TIME OF THE COMMUNIST STATE. WHEN, HOW AND WHY WAS THE DECISION MADE? Sorin TURTURICĂ Curator, the Romanian Aviation Museum After Nicolae Ceaușescu became the head of the Romanian Communist State, a full-scale industrialisation programme was launched within the military sphere, programme that exceeded the settlements within the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. For the military aviation, the plans were very ambitious. The Romanians decided to equip their air regiments with jet, transport or training aircraft, as well as helicopters, all made exclusively within Romania. A surplus designed for export purposes was also planned for. In order to achieve this vast programme, it was intended to buy foreign licenses as well as to develop some original projects. Keywords: military aviation, Soviet troops, Mirage, aeronautics industry, the USSR. No. 3/2018 166 The Revival of the Aeronautics Military Industry at the Time of the Communist State. When, How and Why Was the Decision Made? Introduction Equipping the military aviation with domestically built aircraft was not a new idea in the first years of the Socialist Republic. In the interwar period, the governments in Bucharest had also the same objective. For this reason, the I.A.R. plants were erected in Brașov, which would build, for the next two decades, seven types of engines and 24 types of aircraft1, and some smaller industrial plants, like S.E.T. and I.C.A.R., also received orders from the military. In the years In the years of the Second World War, the military aviation of the Second was equipped, to a great extent, with Romanian made aircraft. World War, the military aviation The best-known product of the interwar period aeronautics industry was equipped, to was, of course, the I.A.R. 80 fighter airplane, which, in the 1941 a great extent, Campaign, fought very well in the skies of Bessarabia and Odessa. The with Romanian reconnaissance aviation also received domestically made equipment; made aircraft. The best-known examples in this regard may be the I.A.R. 37/38/39 aircraft series, which product of the were permanently in the front line, both on the Eastern and on the interwar period Western Front. It is also worth mentioning the Savoia-Marchetti 79B aeronautics industry was, twin engine bomber, built under license in the plant in Brașov, after of course, the the Romanian engineers brought some modifications to the original I.A.R. 80 fighter design. The mentioned aircraft also took part in all the campaigns of airplane, which, in the 1941 the Romanian Armed Forces, both in the west and in the east. Campaign, However, we cannot say that the internal production assured all the fought very well necessities of the military aviation. When Romania entered the war, in the skies of many squadrons were equipped with Polish, French, English or German Bessarabia and Odessa. made aircraft, a real nightmare for those who supplied munitions and spare parts. After the losses suffered in the Battle of Stalingrad, the flotillas were reequipped, especially by use of German imports. Technically, the domestic aircraft production had already lagged behind. Still, the Romanian factories continued their activities, receiving an impulse when, in the spring of 1944, the Messerschmitt 109G license was acquired. 1 Ion Dumitrașcu, Industria Aeronautică Română Brașov (1925-1945), Editura Domino, 2008, p. 55. 167 OPINIONS Sorin TURTURICĂ Immediately after 1945, however, the aeronautics industry was in decline being on the verge of disappearing. In connection with this period, 1945-1947, two myths have spread and still resist. The first ROMANIAN is that the Soviets took to the Soviet Union all the machinery that MILITARY THINKING they found in I.A.R. Brașov, when, in fact, the factory was disturbed by its sections’ dispersal to Caransebeș, Pitești and Mioveni, after the bombings from the spring of 1944. The second myth states that the Peace Treaty of Paris, 10 February 1947, forbade Romania to build military aircraft for 20 years, when, in reality, there was no such provision in the treaty. However, the treaty compelled the Romanian Armed Forces to reduce the strength; strictly for the military aviation, a maximum number of 150 airplanes was admitted, out of which only The first 2 Romanian 100 were for combat duties . airplane to enter For a few years (1945-1949), Romania did not build any aircraft. series production The most important building plant, I.A.R. Brașov, was transformed into was the I.A.R. a tractor factory. It was a confused period, when the aviation engineers 813, designed by Radu wondered if they would ever again get the opportunity to work in Manicatide’s the field they were prepared for. Still, the aeronautics industry did team within not disappear completely and an important role for maintaining it the Prototype – although, at a very low rate – was played by engineer Radu Manicatide, Section of the Tractor Factory. who can be considered without reserve as the most prolific aircraft The Armed designer and builder within the two decades of the People’s Republic Forces ordered era. He was the first who insisted that in Brașov, where I.A.R. had already 80 such aircraft built tractors, aircraft should also be built. He initiated an admirable for aviation schools and, in bureaucratic struggle and took great personal risks, as he could have order for them been easily labelled as a dangerous “reactionary” to the new political to be produced, regime, which did not encourage aeronautical constructions officially, in 1950, next to considering them to be too costly, at the time when Romania had the the plant in Braşov, payment of the war reparations debt among its main priorities. the U.R.M.V.3 The first Romanian airplane to enter series production was the I.A.R. unit (Flying 813, designed by Radu Manicatide’s team within the Prototype Section Material Repair of the Tractor Factory. The Armed Forces ordered 80 such aircraft for Plant No. 3) was established. aviation schools and, in order for them to be produced, in 1950, next to the plant in Braşov, the U.R.M.V.3 unit (Flying Material Repair Plant No. 3) was established. This airplane, as well as other projects that appeared in the next years, and which were executed in Bucharest or Reghin, were dependent 2 Ministerul Afacerilor Străine (Foreign Affairs Ministry),Tratat de Pace între România și Puterile Aliate și Asociate semnat la Paris la 10 februarie 1947 (Peace Treaty between Romania and the Allied and Associated Powers signed in Paris on 10 February 1947), București, 1947, p. 12. No. 3/2018 168 The Revival of the Aeronautics Military Industry at the Time of the Communist State. When, How and Why Was the Decision Made? on the engines that the Romanian state imported from the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. Because Czechoslovakia was itself an ambitious builder and exporter of aircraft, it refused, on many occasions, to sell engines to the Romanians or exported them in small numbers and with great delivery delays. Thus, we may notice that the Czechoslovakian Communist state applied, when it came to the relations with the Romanian Communist state, the rules of capitalism, by blocking the Within the years of the Romanian engine’s delivery, which meant, in fact, the elimination of a competitor People’s from the market. Republic, In conclusion, within the years of the Romanian People’s Republic, the aircraft the aircraft production did not disappear, but became peripheral, production did not disappear, in comparison with the extent it received during the Royal period. but became The important decline can be explained by the fact that the Romanian peripheral, in Communist state was not interested in supporting aircraft production comparison with by a solid investment plan, in order to meet all the needs, considering the extent it received during that other sectors were the main priority. The achievements in this field the Royal period. came, more likely, from the personal initiative of some engineers, like The important Radu Manicatide and Vladimir Novițchi, the latter working in Reghin, decline can be who insisted that their projects should be accepted in the production explained by the fact that plans, and only after they had faced, with positive partial results, the the Romanian ministerial bureaucracy. Things would be totally different in the years Communist of the Socialist Republic of Romania, when aircraft building would be state was not considered as a priority and the political backing would be to match interested in supporting this, by providing great financial and material resources. aircraft production by a The Political Context solid investment plan, in order of the Romanian Aeronautics Industry Relaunch to meet all The most important consequence of the way in which the Second the needs, World War ended for Romania was its transformation into a Moscow considering that other sectors satellite, under the form of a Stalinist republic. The Communist were the main system was imposed in a Soviet fashion: a single ruling party that was priority. The supported by an extremely harsh repressive apparatus in relation to achievements in the citizens, and that totally subordinated the economy, by planning this field came, more likely, from and control. the personal In this early period of the Romanian communist state, Moscow initiative of some influence manifested itself in the economic field by the existence of the engineers, like SovRoms, mixed Soviet-Romanian companies through which a large Radu Manicatide and Vladimir part of Romanian resources went to the Soviet Union. Until Stalin’s Novițchi. death, in March 1953, Gheorghiu-Dej, had a total subordination attitude towards the “Great Friend in the East”.

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