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    • Brian Wolfe

      An Apology - of sorts

      By Brian Wolfe

      I often describe myself as slightly paranoid, which then seems to make others think I have some sort of philological issues.  I don’t believe I am being “watched” for example.  That would, in my opinion, suggest that I hold some degree of celebrity in my mind; this would also, if it were the case, indicate that I think that I am somehow a fellow of above average interest to others.  I must admit that if I were any less interesting people would fall asleep during a hand shake with me. Perhaps wha
      • 0 comments
      • 6,270 views

    IAR CV-11

    The IAR CV 11 was a Romanian fighter prototype from 1930, designed by Elie Carafoli, and it was IAR's first original aircraft. In early 1930 a contest was called by the ARR for a new fighter type to equip its squadrons. During July and October, seven foreign types were tested at an airfield near Bucharest. No decision was made, however, since none of the contenders reached the minimal speed limit set by the requirements at 300 km/h. Despite the inconclusive results, the favourite plane seem
    Morar Andrei

    Morar Andrei

    0

    IAR 471

    The IAR 471 was a 1943 prototype of ground attack aircraft and dive bomber aircraft built by Industria Aeronautică Română. The IAR-81 had not proved a great success as an improvised dive bomber and experience with the IAR-47 showed that the IAR 14K would not be up to the demands of powering a full-sized dive bomber. Thus by early 1943 the Romanians still lacked an effective ground support aircraft . In November 1942 IAR had at last secured a license for the manufacture of the German DB 605
    Morar Andrei

    Morar Andrei

    0

    Hoarder to Historian

    Hoarder to Historian   One of the types of articles I absolutely distain are the “personal journey” stories with some sort of life changing message at the end.  The only thing intentionally placed at the end of one of my blogs is a full stop.  That’s a “period” for our American friends.  I actually say “full stop” just to irritate my Canadian friends who insist on speaking like Americans, which is alright if that’s what you are going for.  I said it was “alright” with one exception
    Brian Wolfe

    Brian Wolfe

    8

    IAR 37

    Continuing the series of the Romanian made planes, here comes the IAR 37, a bomber produced during the Interwar period and used on the Eastern Front. IAR 37, IAR 38 and IAR 39 is a series of Romanian biplane airplanes with three seats for easy reconnaissance and bombardment of Romanian conception and achievement of the 1930s. Its producer is the Romanian Aeronautical Industry. In 1936, the IAR Factory carried out the design of a reconnaissance and bombardment aircraft easily derived fr
    Morar Andrei

    Morar Andrei

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    IAR 80

    This my first topic from a series that will cover at least some of the planes used by Romania during the Second World War. First one will be about the only romanian-built fighter, the IAR 80.  IAR 80 was a monoplane fighter and dive bomber. It was conducted at IAR Braşov by a team composed of Prof. Ion Grosu, Ion Coşereanu, Eng. Gheorhe Zotta, Viziru Grosu and Ion Wallner. At that time, the IAR 80 was comparable to the most modern combat aircraft, such as Germany's Bf 109, Mitsubishi A6M Ze
    Morar Andrei

    Morar Andrei

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    Remaining Objective

    One of the greatest obstacles, ignoring spelling and grammar, in the way of writing pieces related to history is staying objective.  I have never made any secret that I tend to be a bit of an Anglophile, which is not the worst “phile” one can be, even though my family has been here in Canada well before Confederation and our roots are, for the greater part, German.   I recall, when I was very young, being in the classroom and seeing the large pull-down maps at the front  of the room showing the
    Brian Wolfe

    Brian Wolfe

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    Responding to Paul C's Post

    On the Lounge Paul asked the question, “What is the dumbest things you ever did” under the heading “Let’s liven things up around here” in the Lounge.  This is an excellent topic and one which allows for many different styles of response from serious to the jocular.  Yes I used the word “jocular”; only because it is a word you seldom see these days, much like “happenstance”.  Don’t worry I won’t use “happenstance” today but only because I couldn’t figure out where to work it in.  There’s always t
    Brian Wolfe

    Brian Wolfe

    3

    Landkreuzer P.1000 "Ratte" and P.1500 "Monster"

    This time, I want to get simething a bit different from the Romanian military history, and discuss about its allued from the first part of WW2, Germany and its tanks. Not any german tanks, but the huge projects P.1000 "Ratte" (the Rat) and P.1500 "Monster". Hitler, being a veteran of the Great War, had an obsession for oversized weapons, such as the Maus super-heavy tank, "Gustav" and "Dora" 800mm supercanons, the "Flack Towers" and many others. From this obsession were also born the projects fo
    Morar Andrei

    Morar Andrei

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    1st of December, National Day of Romania

    Yesterday, there was 1st of December, and all the Romanians celebrate this year 99 years since the Great Reunification of 1918. But the national day was not the same in the last 150 years, having different dates. Romania's national day ran from 1866 to 1947 on May 10, then from 1948 to 1989 on 23 August. By law no. 10 of 31 July 1990, promulgated by President Ion Iliescu and published in the Official Gazette no. 95 of 1 August 1990, December 1 was adopted as a national day and a public holiday i
    Morar Andrei

    Morar Andrei

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    The Bucharest Fortifications System

    Few know of its existence, but Bucharest has an extraordinary architectural and historical treasure. It is the fortification network around the capital (18 forts and 18 batteries) built between 1884-1903 by King Carol I, under the direction of the Belgian general Henri Alexis Brialmont, whose goal is to defend the capital in case of war. They were supposed to give a strong defence agains any attack from the north, but the southern flank of this defence ring was less fortified. For the constructi
    Morar Andrei

    Morar Andrei

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    Romania and The Great War - What happened

    Many times forgotten or remembered only for the catastrophic campaign of 1916, Romania was involved for a longer time than any would think. If we add the romanians that fought in the Austro-Hungarian army and the romanian legions from France and Italy, we can even say that they fought for most of the war. When the war broke out in 1914, Romania, under King Carol I (member of the Hohezollen-Sigmaringen family, close to the german imperial family), was part of a secret defensive treaty signed
    Morar Andrei

    Morar Andrei

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    This Blog Could Save Your Life

    This Blog Could Save Your Life...well...maybe   Ever notice that as you age you start to feel a lot more run down, tired, listless and perhaps even slightly depressed, though not really a depression per se.  Is getting through the day becoming harder and harder and staying focused has become a challenge.  Well, here’s some really good news for those experiencing those symptoms mentioned above.  You may be suffering from a lack of iron and other essential metals in your system.  Aft
    Brian Wolfe

    Brian Wolfe

    2

    Romanian armoured vehicles used betwen 1919-1947

    Romania used many kinds of tanks during the war, bought or captured from France, Czechoslovakia, Germany or Russia. There were also attempts to create their own tank destroyers, but the Romanian industry was not able to create a 100% original vehicle, basing on imports. The first tank division was created in 1919, containing 74 Renault Ft.17 vehicles. During 1930s, they tried to modernise the arsenal, by buying new tanks (Renault R.35, AH-IV, Panzer 35(t) etc.). Many problems will appear during
    Morar Andrei

    Morar Andrei

    4

    Equipment of the Romanian Armed forces in the First World War

    The arms supply of the Romanian Armed Forces after the Independence War was made almost exclusively by foreign acquisitions. In view of the accession of the Kingdom of Romania to the Triple Alliance, these acquisitions were made mainly from German companies - for artillery weapons - and Austrians for light infantry weapons. On the other hand, the provision of aircraft and the navy was done through French, British and Italian firms. In this respect, General Dumitru Iliescu remarked with bitternes
    Morar Andrei

    Morar Andrei

    5

    Romanian soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian Army

    This a chapter of the Romanian history many times forgotten, but remembered at least by the ones who had ancesters involved (my family too). From the beginning of the conflict in 1914 until 1918, about 650.000 romanians were enrolled in the Austro-Hungarian army, most of them in the XII Korp(Sibiu) and VII Korp(Timisoara). Aproximatly 150.000 of them died (almost 10℅ of all Austro-Hungarian casualties), have been wounded or were taken prisoners, especially after Romania joined the war in 1916, m
    Morar Andrei

    Morar Andrei

    2

    The Trench of Death

    8th - 9th of October 1916. Outskirts of Brașov (Brasso), near the train station of Bartolomeu. After a two days battle against the german and austrian armies, repelling many weaves, an entire romanian regiment of 300 soldiers is killed by the german-austrian artillery, without any survivors. Historiography generally agrees on what has happened, but presentations vary in detail, and sometimes interpretation becomes tendentious. The Romanian-Romanian newspaper "Gazeta Transilvaniei" reported the e
    Morar Andrei

    Morar Andrei

    0

    Remembrance Day _ Protocols - Comments

    Remembrance Day – Protocols – Comments   November 11 is Remembrance Day here in Canada, a day where we remember and honour those who have and are serving their country.  During this time we, like people in many countries around the world, wear a poppy in honour of the fallen and those who served and still serve in our armed forces.    I felt it timely to post the protocols here in Canada for the wearing of the poppy and welcome the members to add anything regarding t
    Brian Wolfe

    Brian Wolfe

    4

    Accuracy in Movies - Does it Matter?

    Lately in the Books and Films section of this forum there have been discussions of the current movie, “Dieppe”, and the inaccuracies found by some of the members.  My first impulse was to make a list if all of the movies that I could remember back to the days of my youth and before where accuracy was obviously not an issue.  I soon realized that most would not relate to such movies as “Lives of the Bengal Lancers”, 1935 staring Gary Cooper; “Gunga Din”, 1939 staring Cary Grant; “The Charge of th
    Brian Wolfe

    Brian Wolfe

    8

    An Apology - of sorts

    I often describe myself as slightly paranoid, which then seems to make others think I have some sort of philological issues.  I don’t believe I am being “watched” for example.  That would, in my opinion, suggest that I hold some degree of celebrity in my mind; this would also, if it were the case, indicate that I think that I am somehow a fellow of above average interest to others.  I must admit that if I were any less interesting people would fall asleep during a hand shake with me. Perhaps wha
    Brian Wolfe

    Brian Wolfe

    0

    The PBSDD

    PBSDD In our ongoing effort to improve world security we, here at the Home Office, have been working on a new project with the working name of the Political B*ll Sh*t Detection Device, or the PBSDD.  So far we have experienced a great deal of what seems to be one malfunction after another.  Every time we get the device in seemingly working order we direct it at the Parliamentary Channel and the darn thing begins to make a very high pitched scream, starts to smoke and then shuts down compl
    Brian Wolfe

    Brian Wolfe

    0

    Strange Creatures, These Collectors

    Strange Creatures, These Collectors   It seems that I, like many of you, have been a collector for most of my life.  Starting as a child, to be clear, I “started” as an infant, and should have written that it seemed that I started “collecting” as a child.  Back on point; I was one of those odd little buggers who, for the most part, kept the original boxes that had contained my new toys.  Cap pistols were among my favourite toys and again that’s the same as most of us, at least most
    Brian Wolfe

    Brian Wolfe

    9

    Aisle C, Row 4, Crate 12.

    This is not the blog I had in mind for this month as may be evidenced by the lateness of its submission.  I usually have several ideas in the works with most needing more research and fact checking.  No doubt this surprised you since I almost never state references or even sources for my blog content.  My reasons are as uncomplicated as I like to think I am.  I do not aspire to be held up as an expert or even an authority on history or the collecting of historical artifacts.  I have never though
    Brian Wolfe

    Brian Wolfe

    10

    Change

    As time passes I find things that were considered common place have changed while I was distracted by life in general.  At one time I would question why I was here and what my purpose for being was.  In other words, I was questioning my existence and place in the universe.  This, of course, was a deep philosophical question. Today as I age I find the question remains the same but seems to arise every time I enter another room.  Now no longer a deep philosophical question it has become a matter o
    Brian Wolfe

    Brian Wolfe

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