IAR 80
The IAR 80 was Romania's indigenous Second World War fighter: an all-metal, low-wing monoplane designed and built by Industria Aeronautică Română, first flown in 1939 and in service from 1941. Developed from IAR's licence work on the Polish PZL P.24 and powered by a licence-built Gnome-Rhône radial, it fought on the Eastern Front, defended the Ploiești oil refineries against American bombers, and was developed into the IAR 81 dive bomber. More than four hundred served, the type stayed in frontline use until the end of the war, and no complete original survives.
Why It Mattered
The IAR 80 gave Romania a modern fighter of its own design: in November 1936 the Romanian Aeronautical Industry, IAR, proposed the design to the country's Ministry of Air and Navy. Historians Justin Murphy and Matthew McNiece judged that when it first flew in 1939 it was comparable to contemporary designs being deployed by the air forces of the most advanced military powers. A Luftwaffe major who tested it in March 1941 called it a fighter adequate to modern needs, while noting that it was 20–30 km/h slower than the Bf 109E. More than four hundred examples served in Romania's military, and the type remained in frontline use until the end of the war.
Design Notes
The IAR 80 was an all-metal, low-wing monoplane that drew heavily on the Polish PZL P.24, which IAR already built under licence: the rear fuselage layout and engine cowling were based on that design. Its semi-monocoque tail was copied directly from the P.24, while the fuselage from the engine back to the cockpit was new, a welded steel-tube frame sheathed in duralumin sheeting. Power came from the IAR K14, a licensed Gnome-Rhône 14K radial; in the IAR 80A this reached 1,025 hp in IVc32 1000A form. The pilot sat under a sliding bubble canopy that provided excellent visibility except over the nose, and the wide-set main landing gear retracted inward. Armament grew across the variants, from the prototype's two Belgian FN 7.92 mm machine guns to 13.2 mm FN guns on the IAR 80B and, on the IAR 81C, Mauser MG 151/20 cannon. The IAR 81 development turned the fighter into a dive bomber by adding a hinged bomb cradle under the centerline, arranged to throw its 225 kg bomb clear of the propeller.
Operational History
Armament shortages and production problems kept the IAR 80 out of service until 1941. On 22 June 1941, the first day of the invasion of the Soviet Union, IAR 80s of the 8th Fighter Group were supporting the Romanian 3rd and 4th Armies on the southern flank of the Eastern Front, and the type had its baptism of fire. At Stalingrad on 12 September 1942, the 8th Fighter Group's IAR 80Bs claimed to have shot down seven Yaks, losing two of their own. That December, IAR 81s of the 6th Group supported the German counterattack toward the city. In the summer of 1943 the IAR 80s were transferred back to Romania for air defense against the United States Army Air Forces, whose attacks were directed at the oil refineries around Ploiești. On 1 August 1943, during Operation Tidal Wave, IAR 80s faced the B-24 Liberator for the first time; Romanian pilots claimed 25 certain and probable victories, and Romanian statistics confirmed IARs and Messerschmitts as having shot down ten B-24s. The fighting against the Americans in 1944 cost the three IAR 80/81 groups at least 32 pilots killed in less than four months, more than the casualties of the previous two and a half years against the Soviets. In July 1944 all IAR 80/81 units were withdrawn from combat against the Americans, and their pilots started converting to the more modern Bf 109G-6. The type nevertheless remained in frontline use until the end of the war.
Afterlife
After the Soviet occupation of Romania, the remaining aircraft were progressively replaced by Soviet designs and scrapped. The type finally left service in 1949, when La-9s and Il-10s replaced it. Airframes with the lowest hours were modified into two-seat IAR 80DC trainers, which served until Yak-11s and Yak-18s replaced them in late 1952. No complete original example is known to survive; no one at the time thought to preserve even one airframe. The aircraft on display in Bucharest are static replicas, one of them rebuilt from IAR 80DC two-seat trainer parts. The Sky Legend Association, founded in 2019, is building a full-scale flying replica, to be named IAR 80R, with the R standing for Redivivus.