Carol I

I was afraid that it would turn out this way. I feel like I am stealing the wind of the more knowledgeable members of this section as soviet history is not high among my interests. I will try to come up with something by this evening, but it becomes tougher and tougher...

The first idea that came to my mind was "tanks produced at the Kirov Factory", but I guessed that it was not quite the answer Belaruski wanted. However, a subsequent search showed that during the Winter War the Soviets have used an SMK (Sergei M Kirov) tank protoype on the Mannerheim Line. I hope I am not right.

I have found out that the unknown badge in question is that of the clerical Order of St. Cyril and Methodius established in 1904 by the Roman Catholic Church in Bulgaria. The order has not been disbanded after the establishment of the state order with the same name, but the church had ceased to award it to avoid confusions. If you think this off topic discussion is interesting enough to have its own thread, please move messages #77-82 & #92 into Central & Eastern European States. Thanks.

Then this must be the reason. Thanks Mike.

Thanks Dave, but what I meant to say is that although the "Download PDF" option does appear on the page, when clicking on it only a blank page appears. I suspect that the "Download PDF" button is not linked directly to the PDF file and thus it might get out of proxify's settings.

Thanks, Mike. I gave it a try with https://proxify.com/ and it is possible to read them page-by-page (no download though).

I think I may have an explanation as to why Lt. col. Chiriţescu is wearing fourrageres, but not the other officers in the picture. During WWI Chiriţescu had been a lieutenant in the 30th Infantry Regiment Muscel. Both he and his unit were awarded the Order of Michael the Brave in 1917. Then, as the certificate in post #15 shows (and the photo with the writing on his hat), in the 1930s Chiriţescu was an officer in the 23rd Infantry Regiment Ialomiţa. I would guess that this latter unit has not received any awards during the war and hence that its other officers were not entitled to wear fourrageres. If this is true, then the photo also shows that it was customary for officers to wear fourrageres even after they had left the units that received the awards. This makes some sense as the fourragere was supposed to be a sign of the officer's contribution to the feats of the decorated units.

Thanks Dave for the links, they seem quite interesting. However they appear to be unreachable for the European users (see in Austro-Hungarian Military History ? Research Resources as well). Can this be solved from the settings of the browser?

Same for me. If this is the behaviour for the default European settings, is there any way to find the proper settings for the browser?

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.