Seaplanes over the Black Sea: German-Romanian Operations 1941-1944 - Jean-Louis Roba and C. Craciunoiu - Editura Modelism
This very scarce title on German seaplanes was recently on offer via Rich Carrick's ebay sales. Although largely supplanted by the Lela Presse 'Hydravions de la Luftwaffe' titles this is still a fascinating and obscure book for Luftwaffe enthusiasts. Written entirely in a rather fractured English, it is still very readable and covers seaplane operations over Romania in WW II, with many photos, maps and charts. Much as they did with the Romanian Stuka group in ‘Romanian Black Hussars’, authors Roba and Craciunoiu dig into another obscure corner of Russian front air operations. This volume, very similar in format to the Stuka book, but pre-dating it by three years, discusses the pre-war evolution of Rumanian air-sea air units and the German-Romanian force's first missions - and the first Soviet air strikes against them - on 22 June 1941. Subsequent chapters describe ongoing anti-naval patrols, rescue missions, and other sorties. Ongoing Soviet air strikes and occasional air-to-air engagements are also covered. The closing chapter tells of the final days of the Romanian pilots and their seaplanes following departure of the Germans and arrival of the Soviets in 1944. 96 page soft cover, published 1995
