Carol I

Yes

Wouldn't this thread fit better in Other: Communist & Socialist States?

Congratulations Jim. You've guessed right, it was indeed Hermann Oberth! It was not Romania in 1894, yet Sibiu has been an important Romanian cultural centre for many years before and after that date. Indeed, the dissertation which he printed as a book after being rejected by Heidelberg, was used as thesis to obtain a PhD in physics from the University of Cluj in 1923. The University got the 'Babeş-Bolyai' name only in 1959 (the names come from the Romanian bacteriologist Victor Babeş and the Hungarian mathematician J?nos Bolyai). After obtaining the doctorate, Hermann Oberth worked as a physics teacher for 15 years at a high school in Romania before moving to Germany. Indeed that was the name of the thesis, but that was a tricky question to which I expected a more anecdotical answer. It is said that as a child, a certain Wernher von Braun did not do well in physics and mathematics until he acquired a copy of the book Die Rakete zu den Planetenr?umen by Hermann Oberth. From then on, he applied himself at school in order to understand physics and mathematics. You've got the word now, Jim! P.S. Sorry Frank, Jim was faster this time.

OK, I think I've got an interesting (although probably easy) question which I think is related to the topic of this quiz. 1. Who is the man in the photo above? 2. When and where was he born? 3. When and where did he get his PhD? Clue: His interesting dissertation on space travel was rejected by Heidelberg University as unrealistic, but later brought him a PhD title from another university. The thesis is said to have influenced in many ways the space race. 4. (Bonus) Name the unusual way in which the named thesis had directly influenced the space race of the Cold War, well before it had even started?

Thanks Jim. I was afraid that I might be right and have to prepare a new question. Well, I will try to come up with something later today.

I could not resist answering this one as I think I got right on spot from the very first search ... Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko Born in Bila Tserkva on 12 July 1916. Sniper Her total confirmed kills during World War II was 309, including 36 enemy snipers. Major. Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

Each I-16 carried two 250 kg bombs.

Hi Christian! I was not looking for the mere bombing of the bridge, but for the idea of I-16s being carried close to the target as parasitic aircraft by another, larger airplane. I am sorry to have disapointed you. I thought this was "fancy" enough for this topic. By the way, Soviet propaganda claimed that the bridge was destroyed in the attacks.

Congratulations Frank! The attacks on the Cernavodă bridge have indeed been carried out by I-16s SPB dive bombers. The I-16s had however too short a range to reach the Romanian targets by themselves, so they had to be carried as parasitic aircraft by TB-3s motherships (a Zveno combination). The defenders of the bridge although surprised to see the Ratas so far away from their bases managed to hamper all the attempts to destroy the bridge, the damage inflicted being minimal. See below some images of the TB-3 aircraft carriers with the I-16s under the wings (from Long Range Bomber/SPB sistem with I-16).

Thanks Christophe and Auke for letting me ask the next question. I thought that it would be interesting to remain in the field of Soviet aviation. In August 1941 the Soviets launched several aerial attacks aiming to destroy Romanian objectives in the Dobruja region using a method that was ingenious enough to provide the surprise factor, but quite inefficient in practice. Thus, three successive attacks failed to bring any structural damage to the vital railroad bridge at Cernavodă (although the bridge needed to be closed for 6 hours for minor repairs - see the photo below). And the question is: What method did the Soviets employ for the mentioned attacks in the summer of 1941?

Sorry Christophe, but I have to decline the challenge as details of Soviet orders are well outside my area of interest . When you mentioned "pilot with pre-WWII achievements" I had immediately thought of one of the propaganda flights of the 1930s made with huge planes of "advanced Soviet design" (the first I thought was the one to the USA, but that was in 1937).

Then it must be his co-pilot, G.F. Baidukov.

I thought it must have been one of the wonder-pilots of the 1930s, but I cannot find their orders. The one that fits the date you gave must be Valery Pavlovich Chkalov.

Look for the Maximum-system of binders from Leuchtturm with pockets up to 350 mm x 335 mm. Lindner has some binders for even larger documents in the A3-range (423 mm x 302 mm) or even larger (508 mm x 340 mm).

It's a brass with more than 80% copper.

Yes Christian, your have indeed given all the right answers. The project was the IAR-95. It was initiated in the late 1970s aiming to build a Romanian supersonic fighter, but although the structural design was rather advanced, the project was suspended in 1981 due to the lack of a suitable powerplant. Work was resumed in the mid 1980s as the IAR-101 or IAR-S when Romania sought to initiate a collaboration with Yugoslavia. But after Yugoslavia declined the offer, the project was unfortunately cancelled towards the end of the 1980s due to lack of funds. There is indeed some speculation that the project had resurfaced on the other side of the globe as the Chinese-Pakistani FC-1/JF-17 as there are many similarities between the two projects, but there is no confirmation of the Chinese buying the IAR-95/101/S plans. I have started with the image of the double fin model because it sported the Romanian national colours. A Google search after "Romanian fighter project" turned the Wikipedia entry on the project that contained a further link to the page on the Romanian Supersonic Projects from the National Institute for Aerospace Research where one can find some further images of the project. Congratulations again.

Very good Christian, you found the Industria Aeronautică Rom?nă as well as the IAR-93 which was the ground attack plane I mentioned above. You are now really close. Believe me that the information on the Romanian fighter project is there on the www, you just have to look for it. I do not want to keep the game still, so if there will be no more answers until tomorrow evening I will give the full path to find it.

I think it is quite a big step. Well in 1968 the army seems to have been in full alert due to concentrations of Soviet troops at the border after Romania had condemned the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Anyhow, that had also been a ringing bell as to the reliability of Russian partnership and friendship. I would also add Germany with a lot of industrial contracts in that period, but as far as I know, it was not involved directly into this project. Why not Mirages? I do not know, but one reason could be that Romania was still a Warsaw Pact member. Furthermore, you have to remember that with the emancipation from USSR, Romania had entered a period of reassertion of its roots and culture and also a period of (eventually failed) tendencies towards self-sufficiency (buying some technology rather than the final products fitted these tendencies). In this context the idea of an own aircraft industry came rather naturally. And the military projects were regarded as a natural continuation of the rather successful IAR airframe designs of the late 1930s and beginning of 1940s.

Yes, this is correct. This is the answer to question no. 1 (Where did the project originate?). The plane in the first image had the Romanian national colours (red-yellow-blue) on the fin.

Sorry Christian if I misled you through my silence when you previously mentioned MIG-29. The project I posted did not originate in the MIG offices and in fact it was not a Soviet design. I could add that it ws part of an ambitious project to build a fighter, a gorund attack plane and trainer that bridged a 30-something year gap in military airplane design.

Quite interesting, Jim. Thank you.

It's not my classification, see Wikipedia: 4th generation jet fighter. For Belaruski: It was not a Sukhoi project. One more photo to help in your search: the single fin version of the plane.

Thanks Wild Card for the congratulations. But after celebrations one has to come up with a question, so here is mine: Below is an image of an interesting project of a fourth generation fighter. 1. Where did the project originate? 2. What was the name of the projected plane? 3. What happened to the project? Good luck and good hunting!

Sorry Christian, the information came from Beevor's book without details about the awards.

While acknowledging Christian's reply above as to the general objecive of Uranus, I also give it a try for the tank operation from 21/22 November 1942: Bridge over the Don. Kalach-na-Donu Practical surrounding of the Axis forces. Lt. col. Filippov, commander of the 19th tank brigade