Constantin “Bâzu” Cantacuzino

He was born in Bucharest and was the son of Mihai Cantacuzino and of Maria (Maruca) Rosetti, Cantacuzino princess.

In 1930, În 1930, sets a speed record on the distance Bucharest – Paris, route traveled by car in just 44 hours. In 1932, he wins the Romanian Tennis Championship, and in 1933 he is part of the Romanian ice hochey team at the World Championship.

In the summer of 1933, he enrolled at the Mircea Cantacuzino School of Aviation where he obtains the 1st and 2nd degree pilot licence. In 1935, he decided to undergo aerobatic flight training and in 1939 he becomes a national champion at acrobatics.

At the beginning of World War II, Bâzu Cantacuzino voluntarily enlisted in the 53rd Fighter Squadron, which used ten English Hurricane-type airplanes. After a short while, he obtained four certain aerial victories and two probable ones. Member of the 9th Fighting Group, “Bazu” is shooting down, between 29th of June and 5th of August 1943, 15 enemy planes – a real frontline record. His series of victories continued after the weapons were turned against the Axis powers, Bâzu Cantacuzino being the only pilot who managed to shoot down a German FW-190 aircraft – some foreign publications gave him an honourable sixth place in terms of combat value during World War II, with 60 victories achieved.

After the war, he went back to a civilian role, returning as chief pilot for the passenger transport company LARES. In 1947, he took the Romanian governmental delegation which would sign the Peace Treaty with the Allied and the Associated Powers to Paris. Starting that year, “Bazu” can no longer fly as he was being monitored by the Secutrity.

In February 1948, after carrying out a passenger flight to Milan, he decided to never return home. Ultimately, he arrived in Spain, where he continued to fly aircrafts. Suffering from a stomach illness he had developed on the front line, he died on the operating table on 26 May 1956. He was buried in Madrid.