THE LIEUTENANT COMMANDER POPIȘTEANU ALEXANDRU, COMMANDER OF THE HEROICAL 7 th FIGHTER GROUP IN THE AIR BATTLE FOR THE LIBERATION OF BASARABIA AND THE CONQUEST OF ODESSA

Abstract

Called by his qualities to become a flyer, a personality with a complex aeronautical training, being a graduate of the Romanian Higher War School and the French War School, with a unanimously recognized activity in military aviation in the interwar period, aviator commander Alexandru Plopișteanu, commander of the elite group of the fighter aviation, the 7th Fighter Group of the 1 st Fighter Flotilla, fell in the whirlwind of aerial combat facing the enemy, in the sky of Odessa, on August 21, 1941, by his deeds at the head of his unit that executed in 60 days of combat 233 missions to the enemy, with 40 air battles, from which 55 victories resulted, he constituted and constitutes for the generations of aviators the perfect war aviator commander and a legendary figure of the Romanian wings.