The history of the airfield built by the Nazis in Balomiru de Câmp. How Romanians conquered the heroic missions of WWII

The town of Balomiru de Câmp is an integral part of the Şibot commune, Alba region, and until the 1990s it had a small airfield, used in its last years of existence for so-called utility planes. Today, the runway and hangar no longer exist, although the airfield played an important role in the history of World War II.

In 1940, Romania allied with the Axis powers and entered the war on their side. To achieve their objectives, the Germans are building a total of 171 military bases in our country. The constructions were carried out with local labor, but with German work coordinators and supervisors. This Balomirul de Câmp airfield would also be part of this group of military bases, with the function of a transit zone or logistics zone, respectively, supply of fuel, rearmament and repair of the bombers. The airfield did not have an asphalt runway, the planes were landing on the surrounding terrain. After unsuccessful landings, the Germans decided on its size and improvements. In 1941 a shed was built in which the equipment was kept, next to it a garage for vehicles and a military barracks. In 1944, the airfield infrastructure also underwent changes with the erection of an aircraft hangar and three rows of houses for the soldiers in the military unit defending the airfield at that time.

The first four German Messerschmitt BF 109 aircraft, accompanied by a squadron of 23 reconnaissance aircraft, arrived at Balomiru de Câmp on October 3, 1940. On October 14, 1940, another squadron of eight Messerschmit BF aircraft arrived. A day later, another 12 German planes landed at the Balomir airfield and on October 3, 1940, another group of four Messerschmit BF 109 fighter jets, 23 reconnaissance and observation planes and two command planes arrived at Balomiru de Câmp. The airfield was used by German aviation until the spring of 1941 and then from April to August 23, 1944.

On August 23, 1944, the Romanian armies turned their weapons against the Germans who decided to deploy a battalion of about 1,000 soldiers to Balomir, with the mission of defending the airfield at all costs. The mission to liberate the Balomir airfield from the occupation of the Nazi army belongs to the VI Romanian Territorial Corps. On the night of August 25, 1944, at 0430 hours, a detachment of second-year students from the Orăştie Military School for NCOs commanded by Captain Ioan Cojocaru, together with his colleagues from the Vinţul de Jos Aviation School, attacked the Nazi-occupied airfield. Although numerically inferior, the Romanian troops manage to conquer the objective. At the end of the operation, 250 German soldiers are taken prisoner and a significant amount of war material is captured.

Until the end of the war, the Balomiru de Câmp airfield was under the subordination of the Romanian Air Force. Between September 6 and 8, 1944, units of the Romanian Air Corps were deployed to Transylvania to carry out combat operations for the liberation of the territories here. The hunting and reconnaissance units were located at Turnişor airfield in Sibiu, and the rest of the units (assault, stabbing, heavy bombardment) at Balomir airfield. On September 7, 1944, Group 8 Assault, Group 5 Bombardment and Group 6 Picaj were deployed here. As of September 8, the operational base of Grupo Picaj 3/6, which had 17 aircraft that carried out attacks against enemy troops, moved here.

The planes stationed at Balomirul de Câmp carried out various military operations to liberate the Transylvanian territories. These include the operations to free Cluj. On September 15, 1944, the squad of 6 Heinkel bombers and 6 IAR 80 took off from Balomir, crossed Mureş, Apusenii and Trascăul and headed for the Gârbău railway bridge, which they destroyed with bombs, setting fire to the garrisons. enemy train. The mission of stopping the advance of the German-Hortis troops to Cluj had been accomplished and the squad returned safely to Balomir. With no time to rest, in the afternoon of the same day, the squad receives a second mission, the destruction of the bridge over Crişul Repede, in the Ciucea gorge, the only point where the enemy could reach Cluj with an army and combat equipment. This time, the Romanians suffered losses in both combat technique and human lives.

Movie of the event:

Around 15.30, Squad no. 78 rises from the Balomir airfield. Romanian bombers dropped 30 bombs over the entire Ciucea gorge, destroying the columns of enemy trains and vehicles.

The 6 Heinkel bombers had been hit in combat by antiaircraft artillery and enemy warplanes, but without major damage. The squad crosses the mountains, Mureş and prepares to land on Balomir. Russian artillery mistakes Romanian planes for enemies and opens fire on them. At 4.50 pm, 5 Heinkel bombers and 6 IAR 80 aircraft land on the runway. Hit in an engine and left behind, the Heinkel bomber with registration number 57 appears later but does not make any maneuver to get to the runway, continuing its flight westward, through the Mureş valley. The bomber passes Orastie, but three German Messerschmitt fighter jets appear before Simeria. Near the city of Deva, the three Messerschmitturi of the Luftwaffe open fire on the Romanian bomber Heinkel, which retaliates with the onboard gun.

However, the aircraft was hit by the enemy on the fuselage and the engine. It had a crew of 5: Pilot Assistant Trainee Aldea Nicolae, Observer Lieutenant Stoian Septimiu, Radio Telegraphist Ionescu Gheorghe, Machine Gun Sergeant Bârsan Gheorghe and Botaş Ion, all under 23 years of age. At 5 in the afternoon, the Romanian plane falls in battle. Only the pilot Aldea Nicolae survived. The other four were charred to death and the military authorities decided to bury them in the Orthodox cemetery in the village of Cristur, near Deva. After the war, Lieutenant Stoian Septimiu was transferred to Bucharest. The other three aviation heroes Ionescu Gheorghe, Bârsan Gheorghe and Botaş Ion sleep their eternal sleep in Cristur, near Deva, guarded at the head by three iron crosses. In the place where the plane crashed, the locals erected a cross that deteriorated over time and today few of those who survived those times remember where the tragedy occurred.

Fortunately, the archives also preserve the documentary sources and the statements of some witnesses, which involved the recovery of a page of the history of the Second World War, which had as its starting point the military airfield of Balomiru de Câmp (Source: Library Regional “Lucian Blaga” Alba Iulia)