Landmarks in Romanian History of Anti-Aircraft Artillery: The Anti-Aircraft Gun Director Computer, “Bungescu Ion”

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to present the decisive contribution that Brigadier General Ion Bungescu had to the development of anti-aircraft artillery in Romania. To achieve this objective we describe in the paper the evolution of the anti-aircraft gun director computer he invented, as well as its modus operandi. The adopted methods include  quantitative and qualitative analyses of documents, manuals and albums published during the considered period, and some published by Brigadier General Ion Bungescu. The results of the article are presented in the context of the accelerated development of military aviation between the two world wars. This development put terrible pressure on the development of anti-aircraft artillery that started with land guns adapted for anti-aircraft firing in 1916 and reached anti-aircraft guns controlled by Gun Director Computer in 1945. We can compare the development of military aviation during that time with the development of information technology over the last 30 years, from connecting computers in the network to the use of artificial intelligence.