IAR 80 / IAR 81

History

When the Romanian-produced I.A.R. 80 (IAR = Industria Aeronautica Romana) piston-engined single-seat fighter debuted in 1938, it was a promising achievement even compared to its contemporaries. The aircraft was in service with the Royal Romanian Air Force and has two main variants, referred to simply as IAR 80 and IAR 81.

A total of 346 of the two types are known to have been built, and the fighter remained in service until 1944, when it was all but superseded by new, more powerful entries on the global stage. The aircraft lacked sufficient armament to match the design for its entire production life.

Development

The IAR 80 was born out of the needs of Romanian hunters in the 1930s. IAR was the only one of the three state-owned airlines to answer the call in the field, providing several full prototypes for review, while also considering external suppliers. Although this original specification eventually won the Polish company PZL an order for the PZL P.11 series of high-wing aircraft, IAR is clearly a player in the market.

PZL won future orders with IAR's design (PZL p.24), but IAR gained valuable knowledge by taking over licensed production of these Polish aircraft as well as French designs.

The IAR design team continued their search and began "demolition" of the winning PZL P. 24 design. The IAR design now integrates the PZL designed tail and forward fuselage into its own aircraft. The high monoplane wings of early PZL production fighters were abandoned in favor of a more modern low-wing monoplane suspension, which is said to have been taken directly from the design of the Italian Savoia Marchetti bomber. Essentially, the IAR 80 will be assembled from various successful working designs and rebuilt into a more capable platform.

Even the open cockpit approach of the PZL design was retained for the prototype.

The war experience of the IAR 80A showed that the aircraft was weak in several respects. Subsequent designs produced the IAR 80B (delivered from mid-1942) with new longer wings and heavier 13.2mm machine gun armament to provide additional offensive fire and 2 fuel tanks or 2 underwing bombs.

The communications suite has also been further expanded. The base IAR 80 can hit 317 mph and a 34,500-foot ceiling while achieving a range of 580 miles.

The similar IAR 81 was developed to meet Romanian needs for a dive bomber platform. The modification of the IAR 80A was an economical response to the European atmosphere of the time. This dive-bomber derivative eventually had a centerline bomb rack position for 500-pound ammunition and underwing racks for 110-pound bombs.

Subsequent variants of this design included the IAR 81A, IAR 81B, and IAR 81C, which, when obtained from the Germans, differed mainly in gun type. The IAR 81C has a top speed of 342 mph, a range of 454 miles and a top altitude of 31,200 feet.

Future variants of the fighter design include the IAR 80M (the standardized designation for the weapons upgrades of the IAR 80A/80B and IAR 81A/81B models) and the IAR 80DC (the post-war trainer model).

Design

In terms of design, the basic IAR 80 fighter had a very different layout from its contemporaries, with the pilot positioned away from the pencil-shaped fuselage, behind the trailing edge of the wing. A radial piston engine was used - a single IAR-produced K.14-IV C32 air-cooled, radial, 14-cylinder, twin-in-line, 960 hp - making up a large part of the forward fuselage. The low-wing aircraft was mounted behind and below the engine compartment, just in front of the cockpit - this was necessary because the changes were made after the original prototype was modified as described above. The single-seat cockpit features a bubble canopy for good visibility with a front display frame.

The fuselage compacts into a narrow empennage adorned with traditional rudder and elevator assemblies.

Armed

The armament of the base IAR 80 consists of 4 x FN/Browning 7.92mm machine guns with 50 rounds each. These systems are mounted on the wings. On the IAR 80A, this weapon was increased to 6 x 7.92mm machine guns, again with 500 rounds per gun.

The IAR 81C retained the original 4 x 7.92mm machine gun armament, but added 2 x MG 151/20 Mauser cannons due to Romania's alliance with Germany during the war.

Conclusion

In the end, IAR 80 had limited success as a series. Seeing more potential to compete with other fabled designs early on, the Romanian aviation industry has to settle for what it might show. The tight control of supply by their German supervisors resulted in the loss of the IAR 80 and restricted the production of the Jager to the point that it played a minor role in the conflict. These aircraft were in service with the Romanian Air Force until 1952, and these later models were nothing more than modified trainers that were in turn replaced by more capable Soviet models.

IAR 80 consists of no less than 9 Romanian Air Force Groups - numbered from 1st to 9th Fighter Groups.

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes