Romanian Air Force

In 1818, during the reign of John Caradja, the prince of Wallachia, an unmanned hot air balloon was flown off Dealul Spirii in Bucharest. On 2 July [O.S. 20 June] 1874, Marius Willemot, the owner of the hydrogen balloon named "Mihai Bravul" flew together with Majors Iacob Lahovary, Constantin Poenaru and Dumitrescu over Bucharest. The last flight took place on 19 [O.S. 7 July] 1874, Willemot flying together with Colonel Nicolae Haralambie, Ion Ghica and a third person. The balloon had made its first flight at Paris on 27 March of the same year.

On 20 November 1909, the Chitila Piloting School was formed as a joint venture by Mihail Cerchez. The school, conducted by French flight instructors, had five hangars, bleachers for spectators and workshops where the Farman airplanes were built under license. The school opened on 9 July 1910, when the chief flight instructor and director of the school René Guillemin crashed a Farman III biplane from a height of 40 metres (130 ft) during a demonstration flight and broke his leg.

Guillemin was succeeded by Michel-Paul Molla who made the first flight across Bucharest on 7 September 1910. Molla was succeeded by two others before the school closed in late 1912 due to financial difficulties, having trained six officers, but only licensed two.

In November 1909, the Romanian Minister of War commissioned Aurel Vlaicu to build the A. Vlaicu I airplane at the Bucharest Army Arsenal which first flew on 17 June 1910. On 28 September during the Fall military exercise, Vlaicu flew his airplane from Slatina to Piatra Olt carrying a message, Romania thus becoming one of the first countries to use airplanes for military purposes. Along with other Romanian pilots, Vlaicu flew reconnaissance missions during the Second Balkan War. Vlaicu III, the first metal aircraft in the world, was completed after his death, in May 1914.

On the eve of Romania's entrance into the war in August 1916, only 24 out of the 44 aircraft that had been imported and assembled at RGA were available. Another 20 aircraft were provided by the flight schools. The total of 44 aircraft included: 10 Bristol T.B.8, 7 Bristol Coanda Monoplanes, 5 Blériot XI, 4 Farman HF.20, 8 Farman MF.7 and MF.11, 4 Voisin III, 4 Morane-Saulnier monoplanes, 1 Caudron G.3 and 1 Aviatik C.I. Added to these were two native-made monoplanes designed by Aurel Vlaicu. One of the Vlaicu monoplanes, A Vlaicu II, crashed in 1913, while the A Vlaicu I was retired in 1914, leaving A Vlaicu III as the sole Romanian-made aircraft in the Romanian Air Corps.

During World War I, Romania acquired 322 aircraft from France and ex-RNAS aircraft from Great Britain including Nieuport 11 and 17 single-seat fighters and Morane-Saulnier LA and Nieuport 12 two-seat fighters, Caudron G.3, Henry Farman HF.20, Farman MF.11, and Farman F.40 & 46 artillery observation and reconnaissance aircraft, Caudron G.4, Breguet-Michelin BLM and Voisin LA bombers. On 16 September 1916, a Romanian Farman F.40 downed an Imperial German Air Service aircraft near Slobozia; this was the first Romanian aerial victory. By the end of World War I, Romanian pilots had flown about 11,000 hours and 750 missions; however, it was unable to prevent the December 1916 Romanian offensive at the Battle of the Argeș from being defeated, which resulted in the occupation of southern Romania, and the armistice on 6 December 1917 following the Russian revolution.

When Romania, allied with Nazi Germany, went to war against the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, the Romanian Air Force had 621 airplanes, including its locally made fighter IAR 80/81. The air force accomplished hundreds of missions, contributing to Romania's recapture of Northern Bucovina and Bessarabia, which had been occupied by the Soviet Union a year earlier. By the end of the Siege of Odesa, the Romanian military fighters claimed about 600 air victories. Romanian Military Aviation fought on the Eastern Front until 22 August 1944, bringing an important contribution to the great battles at Stalingrad, in Crimea, and on the Ukrainian fronts. Between 1941 and 1944, Romanian aircraft won 2,000 air victories. The most famous flying aces were Captain Prince Constantin Cantacuzino, who gained 69 certified victories, Captain Alexandru Șerbănescu, who shot down 60 enemy airplanes, and Captain Horia Agarici.

In the aftermath of King Michael's Coup of 23 August 1944, Romania turned against Germany and joined the Allies.

Starting in 1948, Romania tailored its military to Soviet concepts and doctrine. On 15 February 1949, the Aviation Command was established based on the Soviet model (regiments instead of flotillas). In the following years, new Soviet aircraft, such as Yakovlev Yak-18, Polikarpov Po-2, Lavochkin La-9, Tupolev Tu-2, and Ilyushin Il-10 entered service. In 1951, 9 Yakovlev Yak-17s and Yak-23s entered the air force, and in 1952, another 88 MiG-15 aircraft. In 1958, the first supersonic fighter MiG-19 entered the inventory. Three years later, in February 1962, a new fighter was added to the inventory, the MiG-21, which represented one of the most effective fighters of that time.

Starting in 1974, Romanian-made aircraft supplemented the already existing jets. The Romanian IAR-93 attack aircraft flew its first flight on 31 October 1974. It represented a great step forward taking into account that it was the only jet fighter not made by the Soviets, the only one ever manufactured and operated by a Warsaw Pact country.

In 1962, the first helicopter subunits were established and followed later on, in 1965, by the first Soviet Mi-2 and Mi-4 helicopters. From 1968, Mi-8 helicopters will also enter service. Renewing the aircraft fleet process went on with the first 2 MiG-23s arriving on 23 January 1979.

On 14 May 1981, at 20:16, the Soviet spaceship Soyuz-40 was launched from Baikonur to perform a common Romanian-Soviet flight, with Lieutenant Dumitru Prunariu and Colonel Leonid Popov as commander on board. During the early 1980s, the 67th Fighter-Bomber Regiment and the 49th Fighter-Bomber Regiment from Craiova and Ianca were equipped with new IAR-93s, which replaced old MiG-15s and MiG-17s. In December 1989, just a few days before the Romanian revolution against communism began, MiG-29 aircraft entered the Air Force inventory. Initially, 45 MiG-29s were ordered but only 21 were delivered, with the rest of the order being cancelled. The MiG-29s were assigned to the 2nd and 3rd Squadrons of the 57th Fighter Regiment located at the Mihail Kogălniceanu Airport.

In 1990, the last MiG-15 fighters were retired from the 49th Aviation Regiment, located at Ianca. In 1992, production of the IAR-93 was stopped following the start of the Yugoslav Civil Wars. The last IAR-93s were retired in 1998. By 1 June 1995, the Air Force dropped the communist-era regimental system in favour of a system consisting of Air Bases, Groups and Squadrons.

Due to financial constraints, and being unable to purchase new fighters, the Romanian Air Force decided to invest in the upgrade of the MiG-21 fighters. Following a competition between several companies, the Israeli company Elbit was chosen, and the MiG-21M and MF/MF-75 versions were selected. The program was originally called the "DD program" as a tribute to the fighter pilot and writer Doru Davidovici, who died in a MiG-21 crash in 1989. The upgrade program was later renamed to "Lancer", designated as "LanceR" with capital "R" in Romania. The first flight of an upgraded MiG, a LanceR 'A' ground attack variant, took place on 22 August 1995.

The Romanian MiG-29 fleet was also intended to undergo modernization under a project named "Sniper" done by DASA, Aerostar and Elbit. The first flight took place on 5 May 2000 and the prototype was presented at ILA 2000. However, the modernization project was cancelled due to various reasons and the MiG-29s were retired.

Following its entry into the Partnership for Peace program in 1994, Romania started cooperating with other countries with the goal of eventually joining NATO. For this, Romanian Air Force aircraft participated in many local or abroad exercises and airshows. Before joining NATO, the 86th Group at Borcea started to convert into a NATO-compatible unit by making improvements to the base's infrastructure, allowing its pilots to fly a fair amount of training hours and work according to NATO procedures.

During the period of reorganization, starting from the year 2000, other aircraft models such as the MiG-23 fighters, the Harbin H-5 bombers and the IAR 823 and L-39 Albatros trainers were retired, the latter of which was retired in 2007. Along with the retiring of airplanes, several bases were disbanded as well, including the Alexeni Airfield, the 49th Air Base from Ianca and the 91st Air Base from Deveselu. The 93rd Air Base from Timișoara was also disbanded and currently serves as an annex to the 71st Air Base.