Gheorghe Mihăilescu

Gheorghe Mihăilescu (2 February 1888 – Unknown) was a Romanian World War I pilot, credited with four victories by Romanian standards and eight including shared ones.

Early life Gheorghe Mihăilescu was born on 2 February 1888 in Alexandria, Teleorman County. He attended the Military School of Artillery, Engineering and Navy, receiving the rank of Sublocotenent (Slt.) on 1 July 1908. He attended the Piloting School of the National Air League , obtaining pilot license no.19 on 11 October 1913.

In the summer of 1914, during the visit of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, he flew over the Imperial ship together with , Andrei Popovici, Alexandru Sturdza, and Poly Vacas and put up a show for the Tsar.

On 9 August 1917, while escorting the Farman F.40 flown by French Sgt. de Triquerville and Slt. Dumitru Bădulescu, he engaged and shot down the Oeffag C.II no. 52.63 of FliK 31, flown by Zugsführer Adolf Rabel and observer Oberleutnant Franz Xaver Schlarbaum. The Austro-Hungarian aircraft crash-landed in no man's land, closer to the Romanian trenches, Schlarbaum being rescued from the wreck of the aircraft by Bădulescu and de Triquerville.

Mihăilescu scored his last non-shared victory over a German DFW on 21 August.

After the war, on 1 September 1919, he resigned from the military as he felt he had been wronged when he was dismissed from his post as assistant to the commander of .

The commander of , Cpt. Chambe, described him as such:

Air victories

Mihăilescu scored eight victories during the war, including four shared with other pilots, so not counted by Romanian standards. No.Date/timeAircraftFoeResultLocationNotes 1 Nieuport fighter German reconnaissance airplane Crashed behind enemy lines Over the front of the 2nd Romanian Army Crashed aircraft photographed by a Farman F.40 of 2 (shared) Nieuport 11 No. 1418 Hansa-Brandenburg C.I of FliK 39 Crashed behind enemy lines Over Târgu Ocna Enemy aircraft flown by Augustin Novak and Karl Lukats;Victory shared with Sgt. Nicolae Mănescu 3 (shared) Nieuport fighter German LVG Landed behind Romanian lines Over Enemy crew taken prisoner;Victory shared with Slt. Gheorghe Gheorghiu 4 Nieuport fighter Hansa-Brandenburg C.I serial number 67.52 of FliK 39 Crashed near Bergy Magyaros Over Dărmănești Enemy aircraft flown by Augustin Novak and Franz Fritos von Felsöbenced;von Felsöbenced lost his life 5 Nieuport 11 No. 1418 Oeffag C.II s/n 52.63 of FliK 31 Crash-landed in no man's land Near , south of Grozești Enemy aircraft flown by Adolf Rabel and Franz Xaver Schlarbaum;Rabel died, Schlarbaum taken prisoner 6 Nieuport fighter German DFW Forced to land Near Zăbrăuți Enemy crew taken prisoner 7 (shared) Nieuport fighter Hansa-Brandenburg C.I s/n 269.26 of FliK 36 Forced to land Over Târgu Ocna Enemy crew taken prisoner;Victory shared with Sgt. Nicolae Mănescu 8 (shared) Nieuport fighter Hansa-Brandenburg C.I series 67 of FliK 36 Landed behind Romanian lines Enemy pilot, Leutnant Soliser, taken prisoner;Victory shared with Sgt. Nicolae Mănescu

Awards He received the following awards: Order of the Star of Romania with Swords, Knight Class Order of Saint Anna 2nd Class Croix de Guerre