The sole purpose was to catch the MiG-21 stores at Bacau and Campia Turzii before the scrap man comes for them. With the Lancer due to retire it shouldn't take long for these fine machines to start disappearing.
An early start from Luton saw us board Wizz Air's HA-LWT to Cluj-Napoca on W6 3302. After the usual F+B brekkie of course.
Nothing to trouble the log book at the local.
Just over a three hour flight saw us land around 1230 at CLJ. On approach, Nay's eagle eye saw a gliding strip only a few kilometers from Cluj. So after finding the hire car we headed of in the general direction to find it.
Not much in at Cluj as we landed, just another Wizz and a red EC135 which looked like a medevac example. But it had departed before we were bused to the terminal.
Traian Darjan 14-10-17
SP-YFA Carbon Cub - CCK-1865-1022
YR-1001 Allstar SZD-59 Acro
YR-1190 ICA-Brasov IS-29 D2
YR-1447 ICA-Brasov IS-29 D2
YR-1541 ICA-Brasov IS-29 D2
YR-3150 ICA-Brasov IS-28 B2
YR-3760 ICA-Brasov IS-28 B2
YR-3770 ICA-Brasov IS-28 B2
YR-4002 Allstar SZD-54
YR-5130 Flight Design CT SW
YR-5188 TL Ultralight TL-2000 Sting Carbon
YR-5264 Edra Sao Paulo Super Petrel 100
YR-5406 Denney Kitfox
YR-CAP Mudry CAP-232 - 12 ex G-IIPZ
YR-CBR Deborde-Rolland Cobra 202
YR-PBJ WSK-PZL An-2 P
YR-VLB PZL-Okecie 104 Wilga 35A
Pretty much a clear out here with some very friendly people.
It was time to move on, we didn't have a busy schedule for this trip, but a lot of mileage. So without further ado it was south towards Campia Turzii.
Just outside the base here is a Mig on a stick.
Campia Turzii Airbase 14-10-17
Romanian Air Force
Preserved
807 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A - off base
6801 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A - near hangars
Escadrila 711
172 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21UM Lancer-B
5917 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-C
6105 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-C
6196 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-C
6499 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-C
6518 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-C
6607 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-C
6840 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-C
9611 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-C
Escadrila 713
41 IAR IAR.330L Puma
61 IAR IAR.330L Puma
62 IAR IAR.330L Puma
63 IAR IAR.330L Puma
65 IAR IAR.330L Puma
71 IAR IAR.330L Puma
78 IAR IAR.330L Puma
87 IAR IAR.330M Puma
93 IAR IAR.330M Puma
101 IAR IAR.330L Puma
102 IAR IAR.330L Puma
106 IAR IAR.330L Puma
Stored on field
3001 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
3002 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
3003 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
(6002) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
6003 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
6421 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
(6901) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21UM Lancer-B
8102 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
8104 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
9607 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
9608 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
9610 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
9612 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
9615 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
9702 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
9703 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
9705 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
9808 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
9810 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
Stored in compound near base entrance
(17) IAR IAR.316B Alouette III
(04) IAR IAR.330L Puma
(12) IAR IAR.330L Puma
(18) IAR IAR.330L Puma
(84) IAR IAR.330L Puma
(88) IAR IAR.330L Puma
Visitors
Greek Army
ES-915 Boeing-Vertol CH-47SD Chinook
We noted 19 Mig's on the storage pan, 17 serials read. From reports and google there used to be 20 on here. However 6801 has moved on to the field and looks to be preserved. 6002 and 6901 were identified through photo's.
Credit to the EMOOS boys for the Puma and Alouette serials from the compound. Thank you Andy and Otger.
More than happy with our haul here we headed off again. The next stop was another un-scheduled one. One of the guys at Traian Darjan told us about another skydiving centre near Campia Turzii.
Just a few clicks down the road was "Skydive Transilvania". The owner Freddy showed us around his collection of aircraft. A very friendly guy, here's a link to his website if you ever fancy jumping out of a perfectly good aeroplane!
http://www.skydivetransilvania.ro/en/
Luncani 14-10-17
D-EALD Socata ST-10 Diplomate
D-ELGF Cessna 182 - 182-56265
D-ETSD Cessna 182 B - 52048 ex YR-SDT
YR-205 LET L-13 Blanik - dumped on field
YR-5143 TL Ultralight TL-96 Star
YR-5190 Alpi Aviation Pioneer 200
YR-5203 BRM Land Africa
YR-5389 TL Ultralight TL-96 Star
Next up was Targu Mures, which is undergoing some work at present. Nothing about but the MiG-21 on the gate was worth a stop.
Targu Mures 14-10-17
6926 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21UM Romanian Air Force
With the sun setting we headed off in the direction of Bacau. Our plan to get as close as possible, but it was close to a five hour drive through the mountains. A decision to stop around two thirds of the way across for some food and beer was made.
The MiG's would still be there tomorrow, for now it was Chicken and fries, with a couple of local beers to wash it down. Csikisor! Not too bad ;-)
Day 2 and we were off again. The first few stops were MiG's on sticks.
Moinesti 15-10-17
(12) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21F-13 Romanian Air Force - marked as 2012
The next MiG was in a sorry state, dumped in a field within a camp of sorts.
Valea Budului 15-10-17
(1527) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15UTI Romanian Air Force
Into Bacau and again just outside the base on a roundabout is a preserved MiG-21. After finding this we headed for the west side of the field, from here the entire base can be viewed.
With a little work and walking up the field the first line of MiG's can be read easily with good optics. This is also true for the aircraft in the revetment near the centre of the ramp. As for the southern ramp area, it may be possible to walk right down to them. I didn't see that there were any obstructions but we had run out of time and needed to head back to Cluj for our flight.
We managed to read a partial serial from the first of the southern MiG's. Any help with tying up the others would be very gratefully appreciated. If I knew how the day would pan out from here you would be reading a full log!
Bacau Airbase 15-10-17
Civilian
CN-RNV Boeing 737 7B6 Royal Air Maroc
YR-PMU WSK-PZL An-2R Aviatia Utilitaria
Romanian Air Force
Preserved
134 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15UTI - Muzeul Aerostar
165 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21bis - Muzeul Aerostar
4109 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21US - marked as 5721
Escadrila 951
709 IAR99C Soim
711 IAR99C Soim
712 IAR99C Soim
713 IAR99C Soim
720 IAR99C Soim
721 IAR99C Soim - no tail
723 IAR99C Soim
724 IAR99C Soim
725 IAR99C Soim
723 IAR99C Soim
724 IAR99C Soim
725 IAR99C Soim
Escadrila 952
28 IAR IAR.330L Puma
56 IAR IAR.330L Puma
86 IAR IAR.330L Puma
38 IAR IAR.330L Puma
64 IAR IAR.330L Puma
Stored - Northern ramp area
(177) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21UM Lancer-B - blue shark c/s
212 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
213 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
506 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
506 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
811 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
5705 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
5908 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
5910 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
5911 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
5912 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
5913 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
5915 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
7011 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
8105 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
8107 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
9613 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
Stored - Revetment - centre of ramp area
215 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
713 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
715 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
801 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
803 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
815 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
Stored - Southern ramp area
6693 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
(9809) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
(9809) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
List of suspects for southern ramp
(211) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
(301) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
(305) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
(711) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
(714) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
(806) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
(810) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
(901) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
(907) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
(908) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21M Lancer-A
(8103) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Lancer-A
Getting back to the car we had planned to attack the southern MiG's from the other end, and also to catch the other preserved pieces around the field.
Time however was not on our side. A schoolboy error on the time factor meant we would struggle to make our flight home, unless we managed to shave some serious time of the journey back.
Even with best intentions, plans go south. With Bulldog at the wheel a sterling effort was made. He had managed to shave plenty of time off. We had a buffer of almost 40 minutes to spare and still 90km to go.
Then out of the blue whilst driving through a town our efforts were literally smashed. Some silly old bint t-boned the hire car. With the Police involved the delay was deadly. We had no choice but to make other plans.
With no flights out of Cluj until Tuesday, we had to opt for a connecting flight to OTP in the morning and then a Wizz home from there. Not ideal, but at least we would get home.
I can't thank Cat enough for her help with scouring the web for flights home for us. She was right on the ball, and within no time at all we had several options. Many Stella's coming your way lady!
It wasn't all bad though, we finally got Nay into a Pizzeria, and a bonus log from OTP.
The next morning we were at CLJ for our connecting flight to OTP. Blue Air's YR-BMF doing the honours for the 45 minute flight on OB3002.
From here we had a few hours to look back on the trip whilst awaiting our flight home.
Bucharest-Otopeni 16-10-17
Civilian
A7-AIB Airbus A321 231 Qatar Airways
D-AWBB Boeing 737 7CN Privitair
EI-FZX Boeing 737 800 Ryanair
EI-SLY Aerospatiale ATR 72 202F ASL Airlines Ireland
ES-LSA SAAB 340 AF Airest
LX-GSP Cessna Citation 680 Sovereign
OE-LWO Embraer Emb-195 200LR Austrian Airlines
SP-KPH SAAB 340 AF SprintAir
SX-DVX Airbus A320 232 Aegean Airlines
TC-AVP Boeing 737 82R Pegasus Airlines
TC-JIM Airbus A330 202 THY Turkish Airlines
YR-ATA Aerospatiale ATR 42 512 TAROM
YR-ATB Aerospatiale ATR 42 512 TAROM
YR-ATD Aerospatiale ATR 42 512 TAROM
YR-ATE Aerospatiale ATR 42 512 TAROM
YR-ATF Aerospatiale ATR 42 512 TAROM
YR-ATG Aerospatiale ATR 42 512 TAROM
YR-ATH Aerospatiale ATR 72 212A TAROM
YR-BAZ Boeing 737 405 Blue Air
YR-BGJ Boeing 737 800 TAROM
YR-BGK Boeing 737 800 TAROM
YR-FKA Fokker 100 Carpatair
YR-OTN McDonnell Douglas MD82 Tend Airways
Stored
5N-SEO BAC 1-11 487GK(F) Chrome Air
AP-BFC ROMBAC 1-11 561RC Aero Asia
YR-BRE ROMBAC 1-11 561RC Romavia
YR-BRI ROMBAC 1-11 561RC Romavia
YR-LCA Airbus A310 325 TAROM
YR-LCB Airbus A310 325 TAROM
Romanian Air Force
Preserved
(405) Ilyushin IL-28R
5024 Antonov An-24RT
Escadrila 901
5927 Lockheed C-130B Hercules
5930 Lockheed C-130B Hercules
6150 Lockheed C-130B Hercules
Escadrila 902
801 Antonov An-26
2701 Aeritalia C-27J Spartan
2702 Aeritalia C-27J Spartan
2703 Aeritalia C-27J Spartan
2704 Aeritalia C-27J Spartan
2705 Aeritalia C-27J Spartan
2706 Aeritalia C-27J Spartan
2707 Aeritalia C-27J Spartan
Nice to mop up the C-27's in one hit. The Beagle was an after thought, we didn't think to check for it until we were air side. Luckily our departure took us right over it.
We finally boarded HA-LXI for our flight home. Wizz Air's W6 3003 taking us back to Luton. Again not much to trouble the log at the local, a few bits of paint!
Looking back and trying to ignore the fiasco at the end it was a good trip, potentially 70 MiG-21's in the log is never a bad thing. I can certainly see us revisiting Romania in the near future, maybe another bash at Bacau with more time on our hands.
Big thanks to Bully for the driving, sterling effort dear boy. Be seeing you.....
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