MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION ON AVIATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00046R000300330014-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 10, 2013
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: May 3, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/07/11: CIA-RDP82-00046R000300330014-7 -44es.
,
COUNTRY Rumania
NFIDENTIAL
50X1
SUBJECT Miscellaneous Information on Aviation
50X1
DATE OF INFORMATION
PLACE ACQUIRED
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
50X1
REPORT
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DATE DISTR. 3 Mai 1954
NO. OF PAGES 3
REFERENCES:
50:00
1.
following persons engaged in aeronautical
research in
, .
Rumania: PrfesoE1CAo_s_. AFvod-fmsecialist
in
500
aerOdynamics
STROIESCU, a
aerodynamics
very talenteo aeronautical tec4nician who directed the
laboratories at both the University, of Bucharest and the Polytechnic
Institute; Protestor Ion TIPEI, who did research in the mechanics, of
airplanes with Professor CARAFOLI; Professor Alexandru STRATILESCU,
who did researdh in airplane motors at the Polytechnic Institute;
SAVULESCU and PANTAZOPOL, two brilliant students in aerodynamics
who were working for their doctorates under Professor CARAFOIX at
the Polytechnic Institute; and PATRAULEA, an aerodynamics engineer
and former pilot.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/07/11: CIA-RDP82-00046R000300330014-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/07/11 : CIA-RDP82-00046R000300330014-7
uvw IPANTIAb 50X1
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there were no Russians employed in Rumanian aviation
production and there was no Russian influence on
research activities in the field of 00914S#ties in Rumania? After
the reppted_recognition of Professor CARAF&I-by the Russiets in
1947he was appointed to organize Rumanian research
in this field. The Russians seeMed'-tP,thitk'that. because of CARA-
pui the Rumanians did not need Russian experts to direct them.
In 1952 a supersonic wind
tunnel for research purposes waslplatiO.d.for use by the Rumanian
Academy of Sciences in collaboration with army. This tunnel
was to be built at Roan, in the Outskirts -of Bucharest
It is possible that actual work on the con-
struction started in 1953.- This project was tinder the control of a
committee set up in 1952 by the Academy 'sInstitute of Applied
Mechanics, which was located on Strada,Aihail Eminescu (formerly
Strada Romana). Both the committee and the Institute were headed
by. Professor CARAFOLL.
The field of aviation did not offer_many opportunities in aircraft
construction engineering to graduateaof-theTolytechtic Institute
other than the Rumanian air force.triea,tbitduct most of the
graduates trained in aviation.. Onealternative to military ser-
vice was employment with TARS, thecivilian airline, but Professor
50X1 STANGACIU a former employee of TARS, advised
against this, stating that TARS Was'lk,Very unpleasant concern to
50X1 work for, full of personnel lntrigues::and conflicts. There were
only two openings for aircraft engineers at WS: one spot was
always filled by a Soviet engiteerthe-other, one by a Rumanian.
The Director of TARS was a Soviet national and the Assistant Diree-
tor was a Rumanian national whose'nsmeva4 7ADUVA. Professor
CARAFOLI had several openings in, his:InstitUte of Applied Mechan-
ics, but only for lab technicians who were paid 500 lei per month.
Even though research in the aeronautical field was done there,- the
small salary precluded interest in. these Jobs on the part of
graduate engineers. To illustrate this point, the six other
students who were in aircraft Construction at the
Polytechnic Institute were employed-as follows
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a. Virgil CONSTANTINESCU: air forOe senior lieutenant and instruc-
tor of fluid mechanics and hydraulies,at the Academia Tehnica
Militara in Bucharest (founded in 1951).
b. Mihai NITA: air force senior lieutenant and assistant instruc-
tor in the armaments course in the Academia Tehnica Militara
in Bucharest.
c. Constantin MIHALACHE: as of March 1953, air force senior
lieutenant and instructor of aerodynamics at the Rumanian
50X1 Air Force Pilots' School at Tecuci airfield
d. Ilie TERPU: air /prce senior lientenant stationed at Bucharest-
Pipera Airfield ZN 44-29, E 26-OV and serving in ,the main-
tenance engineering section.
e. Alexandru VOICU: employed as drafting engineer with IPROMET,
working in Section P-3 (FURNALE), smelting furnaces.
?
f. Gheorghe RAMBET: prior to graduation was assigned to the
50X1 Ministry of Construction and Materials of Construction..
5. The only reference to aircraft production in Rumania
a the Pol t chnie Institute was made by Professor Mihai POPESCU
50X1 in 1952 in a course called Technology of Aircraft
roduction Tehnologia Fabricatii de Avioane), which dealt in a
CONFIDENTIAL
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/07/11: CIA-RDP82-00046R000300330014-7
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general and theoretical way with aircraft production, maintenance,
and repair. This course was being offered for the first time and
no practical examples from existing native Or foreign production were
used, perhaps because examples had not as yet been collected. In
fact, none of the Institute's professors had ever succeeded iln
seeing or studying Soviet-built aircraft. On one occasion a pro-
f ssor asked for _omission to take his class to Otopeni Airfield
44-34, E 26-01/ to see jet aircraft. Permission was not granted.
None of the professors was in a position to comment on Soviet equip-
ment, production, methods, and design. -In other courses at the -
Institute examples of Soviet machinery and production were used? but
not in the aviation field.
6. The only airplane produced in Rumania since World War II was a copy
of the Czech ZLIN-381. The Rumanian version of this plane was the
IAR-813 (profile NACA 23012), designed by Eng. MANICATIDE for sport
and training purposes. It differed from the ZLIN only in that it had
a metal skin. The plane had a wooden and metal frame, a length of
five meters, a span of seven meters, and a 100 h.p. engine. It had
50X1 two seats and a speed of 170 km. per hour.
50X1 The IAR-813 was produced as late as 1953 in a converted army at-senal
building in Brasov.
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7. The former IAR (Industrie Aeronautica Romana) factory in Brasov,
which produced airplane engines before World War II, has been pro- '
ducing only tractors, agricultural machinery, machine tools, and
possibly tanks, since the war, under the management of Sovrom
Tractor-. As in all Sovrom factories, the general director was a
Russian who had the authority to disagree with or to reiect even a
minister's suggestions.
8. The ZLIN itself was imported from Czechoslovakia in small sport
types designated 3810 22, and 26. The ZLIN had a speed of 150 to
170 km. per hour and a 100 h.p. Walter Minor motor. Another plane,
the AERO 45, was also imported from Czechoslovakia. This plane
50X1 had two 100 h.p. engines, a speed of about 240 km per hour and
four seats
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9. Military planes were imported from the Soviet Union. All planes
used for civilian transport were old models.
10. No airplane engines have been manufactured in Rumania since World
50X1 War II an airplane
and automooile engine rectory was under construction in Piatra
50X1 Neamt 5 46-55, E 26-227.
11.
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a factory was producing airplane frames in Ardeal,
somewhere in the region of Brasov.
a subterranean
factory for jet aircrart had been under construction in Bacau
46-34, E 26-5A7 since 1951. It was assumed that jet aircraft
production in Rumania would .be under strict Soviet control and
that Rumanian engineers would probably never see the complete
assembly process.
CONFIDENTIAL
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/07/11: CIA-RDP82-00046R000300330014-7