72166 ROMANIAN II WW FIGHTER IAR-80

The IAR-80 was a Romanian fighter and fighter-bomber from the Second World War in the low wing configuration. The drive was provided by a single radial motor IAR-K14-1000A with a power of 1025 hp. The flight of the prototype took place in 1939, and the serial production lasted in the years 1941-1944. In total, about 350 copies of this aircraft were built. The deck armament - in the IAR-80A version - consisted of six Browning FN 7.92 mm machine guns. In the 1920s and until the mid 1930s, the IAR (Rum. Industria Aeronautrica Romana) specialized in the production of aircraft under license, e.g. PZL P.11 or PZL P.24. However, at the end of 1936, the management of these plants made a proposal to the Romanian government to develop their own fighter. The government accepted the proposal and the design works began very quickly, which largely took into account all the most important trends prevailing in the world in aviation structures at that time. Finally, the IAR-80 turned out to be a successful machine with very good piloting properties, durable construction, but with performance inferior to the best German or British designs. Several development versions of this machine were created in the course of serial production. The first mass-produced version was the IAR-80, shortly after that, the version of the IAR-80A with enhanced on-board armament entered production. In 1942, the IAR-80 B version was put into production, with changed guns and slight modifications to the structure. In 1943, a version appeared IAR-80C. One of the last development versions was the IAR-81, which was a fighter-bomber version of the plane. The IAR-80 and IAR-81 machines served primarily on the Eastern Front in the period 1941-1944. The last IAR-80s were withdrawn from Romanian aviation only in 1949.