Ploesti… and Questions

I bought the game back when it came out, and also grabbed the P-51D box. I had no real interest in the Battle of Britain or the Spitfires, but I quickly realized that the Bf-109E was not in use by the Luftwaffe by the time the P-51D Mustang started to show up (the Mustang was in a bit of an odd spot when the game was released, since it’s the only fighter that wasn’t primarily used early in the war).

Fortunately, I knew of an historically accurate way to present this match-up…

It’s been estimated that as much as 1/3 of Germany’s oil during the war came from the oil fields at Ploesti, Romania. Given that, the refineries located there were high priority targets, and Operation Typhoon – which targeted the oil fields there – is quite possibly the best known air raid of the war. Operation Typhoon (aka “Black Sunday”, due to the heavy losses incurred during the low-level daytime precision bombing raid) was conducted by the US 9th Air Force. Later in the war, raids resumed on the location, this time conducted by the US 15th Air Force.

At the start of the war, Romania had its own aircraft industry. Home-built planes – such as the IAR-80 fighter – were considered comparable to what the other nations were flying. Unfortunately for Romania, aircraft design evolved rapidly with the outbreak of the war, and Romania’s industry was not able to keep up with the other nations. As a result, Romania was forced to turn to Germany for assistance, and numerous German planes ended up being flown by the Royal Romanian Air Force (FARR). One such model of plane – that continued in use in Romanian hands long after the Luftwaffe had removed it from front-line squadrons – was the Bf-109E. And quite a few BF-109Es rose into the skies to confront every American bombing raid right up until Romania switched sides.

Unfortunately, my painting skills aren’t good enough to put the most important elements on the planes. First, of course, would be the national insignia – the Cross of St. Michael – on the fuselage and wings. The second required item would be the unauthorized Disney iconography. Romanians were apparently big fans of Disney in the pre-War era, and Disney characters such as Mickey or Donald were popular choices for imagery on FARR fighter planes.

Edit – The image of the planes didn’t upload. It was small enough, but something else apparently went wrong…

• This topic was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by Eumerin.