Military issues were an
important aspect of the country's planning, and a strong effort was
made to develop an indigenous aviation industry because of the poor
results they had in attempting to purchase advanced equipment from
other nations. In order to overcome these problems and ensure that the
Fortelor Aeronautica Regală ale Română (Royal Romanian Air
Force, or FARR) could continue to be supplied with aircraft in time of
war, the government subsidized the creation of three major aircraft
manufacturers in the 1920's and 30's.
The first was
Societatii pentru Exploatari Tehnice (SET) which was formed in
Bucharest in 1923. Next came Industria Aeronautica Româna (IAR)
which set up shop in Brasov in 1925. Finally there was
Intreprinderea de Constructii Aeronautice Romanesti (ICAR), which
was founded in Bucharest in 1932.
In 1930 the Romanian
government issued specifications for a new fighter. Although the
government did not expect bids from its own aircraft industry, IAR
produced several prototype fighters in response to the tender. None of
the other Romanian companies entered a bid, and as the industry was
rife with corruption, the government nationalized IAR while the other
two companies were left to their own devices.
However the contract
was eventually won by the Polish Panstwowe Zaclady Lotnicze (PZL) P.11,
which at the time was considered to be the best fighter in the world.
The FARR purchased fifty of a modified version called the P.11b, which
included Romanian instruments and the locally built 595 hp (444 kW) IAR
K9 engine. All fifty were delivered in 1934. This started a long series
of setbacks for IAR, who seemed to always be one step behind the PZL
teams.
TIn 1934 IAR introduced
the IAR 15 and 16 which were based on a study of the good points of the
P.11b. Both were low-wing monoplane fighters, differing only in the
powerplant. A 600 hp (448 kW) inline in the 15, and a 560 hp (418 kW)
radial in the 16. Both were faster than the P.11b, but the FARR decided
to simply upgrade the P.11 with the newer 640 hp (477 kW) IAR K9 engine
and call it the PZL P.11f. This version also included four guns (up
from two), and low-pressure tires which allowed it to be flown from any
open field. Production of the 11f version at IAR was rather slow, as
the company gained experience with all-metal construction.
The pace of aerodynamic
improvement was such that by 1936 the P.11 was no longer competitive,
so the FARR again went looking for newer aircraft. Just prior to this
IAR had tested a number of new design and construction techniques on a
private project, the IAR.24 sports plane. Using lessons learned from
this project, most notably the wing design, the IAR team came forward
with a new fighter which added retractable gear and a much improved
engine. Once again PZL won the contract, this time with the "product
improved" P.11, the P.24.
Unlike the P.11, the
P.24 was intended only for export. The main differences between the
P.24 and the earlier P.11 was heavier armament, an enclosed cockpit,
and a strengthened structure suitable for mounting engines up to 1,000
hp (746 kW). The Romanian version was the P.24E, and mounted the new
930 hp (694 kW) K14 C36, along with two 20 mm Oerlikon cannon and two
7.7 mm (0.303 in) Browning machine guns. Fifty were delivered in total,
the first six from PZL and the rest from IAR.
All these setbacks
might make it sound like IAR should have been out of business. Quite on
the contrary, IAR won the contracts to actually build many of the PZL
aircraft. They also provided all of the engines, which were locally
built versions of various licensed Gnome-Rhône radials. Other licensed
contracts included the Potez 25, the Moraine-Saulnier 35, and the Fleet
10-G. As a result the company had enough money to fund a design shop
even if it's designs never saw production.
The Industria
Aeronautica Româna (IAR) factory had built the Polish P.Z.L. P.11F and
P.24E fighters under license and offered a design to the Fortelor
Aeronautica Regală ale Română (FARR) that incorporated a large
number of P.24 components to minimize design risks and production
costs. Unlike its predecessor it was an elegant low-wing monoplane with
a retractable under-carriage, but the rear fuselage and tail were
different only in minor details from that of the P.24.
The prototype IAR 80
was about a 1,000 lbs (450 kg) heavier than the P.24E and used the same
engine (870 hp (649 kW) IAR K14-III C32 engine which was a licensed
Gnome-Rhône 14K II Mistral Major), but it was about 50 mph (80 kph)
faster at 317 mph (510 kph) at 14,760 feet (4500 m) when it first flew
in April 1939 with Dimitru "Pufi" Popescu at the controls. It was only
armed with two Belgian-made FN-Browning 7.92 mm (0.31 in) machine guns
in the wings though four were intended for the production aircraft.
Most of the aircraft was built in Romania, but the undercarriage was
French and much of the equipment was either German or French. This
would prove to be a problem in the future.
Flight tests revealed
the need for some minor changes though some of these were difficult to
implement. A more powerful license-built IAR K 14-III C36 version of
the Gnome-Rhône 14K Mistral-Major engine was fitted that produced 930
hp (694 kW) for take-off. The fuselage was lengthened to compensate for
the heavier engine and return the centre of gravity to where it
belonged. The cockpit was moved aft and given a teardrop-style canopy
as part of this effort, but this reduced visibility directly forward to
virtually nothing while on the ground. The opportunity was taken to
increase the fuel tanks between the engine and the cockpit in size to a
total of 100 Imp gal (455 liters). The wing was enlarged and the tail
was revised to eliminate the bracing struts. But these were regarded as
minor changes and an order was placed for a hundred aircraft on 18
December 1939.
All these changes took
some time to implement and the first IAR 80 rolled out the door in
January of 1941, with twenty aircraft being rushed to operational units
by February. The German conquest of the West severely disrupted IAR 80
production, which accounted for much of the delay, as they refused to
sell any material produced in the occupied countries until Romania
joined the Axis in November 1940. IAR took advantage of the time to
further improve its K14 engine in the -IV C32 version to give 960 hp
(716 kW) on take-off. This engine equipped aircraft numbers twenty-one
through fifty of the initial batch that rolled off the production lines
in early 1941. It was quickly superseded from May 1941 by the K
14-1000A of 1025 hp (765 kW) that equipped every later IAR 80. The
extra engine power proved to be a little more than the fuselage
structure was designed to handle and it had to be reinforced with a
duralumin "belt" aft of the cockpit in the first 95 aircraft built
before the fuselage could be modified.
The first forty
aircraft equipped with the K 14-1000A were designated IAR 80A as they
were armed with six 7.92 mm (0.31 in) FN-Browning machine guns and an
armour plate was added behind the pilot's seat, but only eight had been
completed when Germany, and its allies, including Romania, invaded the
USSR.
Escadrile 59 and 60 of
grupul 8 vînatoare were the first to receive the new fighter and were
declared operational on 15 April 1941 with escadrila 41 following
shortly thereafter. Grupul 8 was initially deployed on ground support
and air superiority missions from 22 June to 14 July when it was
transferred to provide air cover for the Ploesti oil fields against
Soviet raids. These were ineffectual and grupul 8 was transferred east
to support the Romanian efforts against Bessarabia and Odessa. This
lasted until the evacuation of Odessa on 16 October. During this period
the IAR 80As gradually replaced the IAR 80s in service. A further
development, the IAR 81, flew its first mission on 15 October, but
grupul 8 was withdrawn back to Romania before it could have any effect
on the battle.
The IAR 81 was
developed as a dive bomber from the IAR 80A in lieu of Ju 87B Stukas
that Romania had unsuccessfully tried to order from Germany. The first
forty aircraft carried a 500 lbs (225 kg) bomb in a belly cradle while
the last 10 supplemented it with a 110 lbs (50 kg) bomb under each
wing. The bombs were ideally delivered at a speed between 285 to 297
mph (460 to 480 kph) at an altitude of 3,300 feet (1000 m) from a dive
that began from an altitude between 8,250 ft (2500 m) and 11,500 ft
(3500 m). It wasn’t very popular with its pilots as the drag of the
bomb cradle necessary to throw the bomb clear of the propeller in a
dive compromised its performance in the air. A follow-on order for IAR
81As was cancelled and the aircraft were completed as IAR 80B fighters.
However, between April and May 1943, a new batch of ten IAR 81As was
delivered as a stop-gap measure to give the FARR some semblance of a
ground-attack capability until the Germans could be persuaded to sell
some Stukas. This happened shortly afterwards and the IAR 81As were
stripped of their bomb cradles and delivered to IAR 80 units as
fighters.
The IAR 81s replaced
the P.24Es in grupul 6 vînatoare (esc. 61 and 62) over the winter of
1941/42. Grupul 6 bopi (bombardment in picaj or dive-bomber), as it was
redesignated, participated in the Battle of Stalingrad, but it seems to
have been used more in the fighter-bomber role than as a dive-bomber.
It was withdrawn back to Romania on 13 January 1943 where it provided
air cover for Bucharest. It received IAR 80Bs in November. The shortage
of FN-Brownings to equip the IAR 80As and 81s produced in late 1941 and
early 1942 forced the Romanians to strip their old Polish fighters and
indigenous observation aircraft of their armament to equip the new
fighters.
But so as not to get
out of sequence in this history, the next improvement was intended to
remedy complaints about the IAR 80A’s marginal firepower. 13.2 mm (0.52
in) Browning machine guns were stripped from the SM.79 bomber and its
derivatives in Romanian service and were mounted in a new and larger
wing with two 13.2 mm and four 7.92 mm FN-Brownings. This was the IAR
80B and 50 were built, including the last twenty of which had been
intended as IAR 81A dive-bombers. The last thirty IAR 80Bs were able to
carry a 110 lbs (50 kg) bomb or a 26.4 gallon (100 litre) drop tank
under each wing. They were delivered between June and September 1942.
The appearance of US B-24s over Ploesti in the summer of 1942 was an
unpleasant surprise for the FARR. This confirmed the IAR 80’s need for
greater firepower for anti-bomber missions.
The supply of the 13.2
mm (0.52 in) Brownings was quite limited and the Romanians had to
settle for imported Swiss Ikaria 20 mm (license-built Oerlikon MG FF)
cannon for their bomber busters since the Germans initially would not
sell any 20 mm cannon to the Romanians. These replaced the 13.2 mm
(0.52 in) machine gun and necessitated another redesign of the wing and
more delays. The sixty airframes that became IAR 80Cs were originally
intended as IAR 81B dive-bombers, but were delivered as fighters
between December 1942 and April 1943. They retained the ability to
carry 110 lbs (50 kg) bombs or 26.4 gallon (100 litre) fuel tanks under
each wing. From the tenth IAR 80C on, self-sealing tanks were fitted as
well as new back armour for the pilot.
An order for 100 IAR
81Cs was placed on 28 May 1942. This model was intended to carry bombs
like the IAR 81A, hence the designation, but they were delivered with
all bomb racks deleted. They did, however, retain the ability to carry
the underwing drop tanks. They were armed with two German 20 mm Mauser
MG 151 cannon and two of the usual 7.92mm (0.31 in) machine-guns.
Supplementary orders for thirty-five and fifteen aircraft were placed
in February 1943 and January 1944 respectively to replace losses and to
keep the IAR factory occupied until the Bf 109G entered production.
The Romanians realized
that the K 14 Mistral Major engine had maximized its potential by late
1941 and investigated alternate engines. IAR engineers estimated that
an BMW 801-powered IAR 80 would have a maximum speed of at least 373
mph (600 kph). The radial BMW 801 engine as used in the Fw 190 would
require considerably less work to mount on the airframe than the inline
Jumo 211, used by the SM.79B (also known as the JRS.79B) bomber in
Romanian service, but the Germans were willing to provide neither the
machine tools to build it nor the engines themselves as production was
insufficient to meet the needs of the Luftwaffe. A Jumo 211Da engine of
1,220 hp (910 kW) was mounted, complete with the radiator and cowling
from the bomber, for flight tests in early 1942. But on its first
flight the vibration was severe enough that it threatened to shake the
engine lose from its mount and the aircraft quickly landed, no further
attempts being made to evaluate the Jumo engine. The Romanians began a
program to upgrade the armament of late IAR 80As and all IAR 81s to IAR
81C standards as IAR 80Ms and IAR 81Ms in mid-1944, but the number of
completed conversions is unknown.
In 1942 IAR 80As were
issued to grupuri 3, 8, and 9 and escadrile 43, 52, and 53 as well as
IAR 81s to grupul 6 as mentioned previously. Most of these were
retained for home defence or escort missions over the Black Sea. Only
grupuri 6 and 8 were assigned to provide air support for the Romanian
forces in Russia. They arrived in October in company with the fresh
divisions of the Romanian Third Army. Escadrila 43 of grupul 3 was
assigned to the Kerch Straits area for coastal defence under German
command. The Soviets launched their counterattack at Stalingrad on 19
November under the cover of bad weather that kept the Axis aircraft
grounded. By the time the weather cleared on the 21st the Soviets had
already decisively penetrated the defences of the Romanian Third and
Fourth Armies. The weather intervened again on the 22nd and 23rd which
prevented the Axis air forces from providing much air support to the
beleaguered troops. Indeed, they often had to worry more about
themselves as their forward airfields came under fire from the
advancing Soviet forces.
The airfields of the
IAR 80 units were considerably to the rear at Morozovskaya and
Tatzinskaya and were more concerned with the flood of aircraft that
arrived since they were now the closest airfields to the newly formed
pocket than any Soviet threat. The situation was so dire that the IAR
81s of grupul 6 bopi actually flew missions on 12 and 13 December as
dive-bombers rather than their more normal role as fighter-bombers.
Support efforts switched to the sectors of Armee-Abteilung Hollidt and
the Italian 8th Army from 18 December as the Soviet Little Saturn
offensive made a bid to cut off the entire southern wing of the Axis
forces in Russia. As part of this offensive the Soviets overran
Tatzinskaya airfield on 24 December. This seriously disrupted the units
based there as all unserviceable aircraft and supplies had to be
abandoned. They resumed operations two days later much further to the
rear at Novocherkassk, but at a much lower intensity. The decision had
already been made to withdraw the remains of the Romanian Third and
Fourth Armies on that date and most of the air units returned to
Romania the following month. Escadrila 43 of grupul 3 was one of the
exceptions and it was retained for the defense of Kerch Straits where
it had been stationed for its whole tenure on the front. It
participated in the heavy fighting over the Kuban Bridgehead in
February-April 1943 before converting to the Bf 109G as part of grupul
9 later that summer.
49 IAR 80/81s were
destroyed between January 1942 and June of 1943 and only 39 aerial
victories were claimed by the entire FARR during this period. These can
be explained by the relatively late arrival of the FARR on the front
and that it only mustered just over a hundred aircraft, a small
proportion of the Luftwaffe forces deployed around Stalingrad. Also the
Soviet Air Force wasn't really aggressive during the Battle of
Stalingrad, that began during the fighting over the Kuban, so the
opportunities for aerial combat were rather limited.
The situation in 1943
was rather different because the limitations of the IAR 80 and 81
against better-quality Soviet fighters was becoming more apparent.
Supplies of more modern German Bf 109Gs equipped the units actually at
the front during most of 1943 and early 1944 and the IAR 80s were
retained at home or along the periphery of the Black Sea where their
limitations were far less critical.
Fighter coverage of the
coastal convoys was initially provided by obsolete types like the PZL
P.11F, but these were replaced by IAR 80s as they were phased out from
mid-1942. Grupul 3 and escadrila 53 were equipped with early IAR 80 and
80A fighters that were deemed unsuitable for front-line combat. From
mid-1943 most of grupul 3 was relegated to the advanced training role
and was replaced by the new grupul 4 bopi with its new IAR 80Cs. With
the isolation of the Crimean Peninsula by the Soviets by the end of
October 1943, grupul 4 provided air cover from its airbases at Saki in
the Crimea and Odessa for the convoys that were the garrison's only
means of supply. This, it accomplished with the support of grupul 5's
Bf 109Es and IAR 80s from 20 December, as no convoy was seriously
disrupted until the final moments of the evacuation in May of 1944 by
which time escadrila 49 of grupul 4 had already been overrun.
Just prior to that the
Soviets had moved up to the pre-war Romanian border in their famed "mud
offensive". This caused a major redeployment of the FARR as the Soviets
feigned a continuation of the offensive in late May and early June as
part of their deception operations in support of their planned summer
offensive in Byelorussia that was to kick-off on 22 June. This included
the seriously under-strength grupul 2 and the remains of grupul 4 with
their IAR 80s. After a couple weeks of intense activity the Romanians
realized that the Soviets weren't planning an immediate offensive and
took advantage to rest those fighter units mauled in the resumption of
the Western Allied bombing attacks after a long pause. The first of
these attacks had taken place on 12 June 1942 when thirteen B-24s
bombed Ploesti from Egypt without losing any aircraft to the defences.
This was little more than a propaganda exercise, but it served to alert
the Axis powers that Ploesti, the primary source of oil for the Axis,
was vulnerable to Allied bombing attacks. Consequently when the Allies
tried again in much greater force on 1 August 1943, they ran into a
hornet's nest of flak and fighters.
The closest Allied
airbase was at Benghazi in Libya and 178 unescorted B-24s of the
American 9th Air Force took off to bomb Ploesti. The plan was for the
bombers to approach the target at low altitude so as to minimize the
warning time from the German radar stations. Unfortunately for the
bombers, this placed them within easy reach of the IAR 80s. Despite the
lack of warning the Romanians managed to scramble some 59 fighters,
most of which were IAR 80Bs and Cs. These claimed twenty B-24s for the
loss of an IAR 80B and a Bf 110 as well as three damaged IAR 80s.
Ploesti's heavy flak defences claimed another fifteen bombers. The
Germans managed an additional 89 sorties against the bombers as well.
The low-altitude approach back-fired for the Americans and the B-24s
suffered horrendously with 53 lost, including eight interned in Turkey,
and another 55 damaged. This was the most expensive raid of the entire
war for the Allies as a proportion of the attacking force.
No further attempts
were made until the following year when the advance up the Italian
peninsula gave the Allies bases from which fighters could escort the
bombers. From April to August 1944 the Americans launched nineteen
missions against Ploesti, losing some 223 bombers in the process. An
additional twenty-two missions were flown against other targets in
Romania. The RAF's 205 Group also launched fifteen missions at night
which included sowing the Danube with magnetic mines. All this effort
had the effect of reducing Romania's oil output to only twenty percent
of capacity and also significantly reduced IAR's ability to produce
aircraft.
As the raids began the
primary Romanian defenders were the IAR 81Cs of grupul 6 and the Bf
109G-2s of grupul 7. As the Soviets approached Romania two of grupul
7’s escadrille were exchanged with the IAR 81Cs of grupul 2. Despite
being totally outclassed by the escorting P-51 Mustangs the IAR 81s did
reasonably well. Actual losses inflicted on the Americans are unknown
during the early phase of the Allied aerial offensive from April to
May, but grupul 2 only lost 6 IAR 81Cs and a Bf 109G-2 with another 13
damaged during this period. Nonetheless, this placed a great strain on
the IAR 81 units and grupul 2 was transferred to the quiet front facing
the Soviets on 30 May in exchange for the Bf 109G-6s of grupuri 7 and 9
and grupul 6 began to convert to the Bf 109G-6 shortly afterwards. The
Americans ramped up their offensive in June by adding strafing missions
by fighter-bombers, but this proved costly in the face of the strength
of the Axis defenses. On 10 June twenty-two P-38s were shot down as
they strafed grupul 6's base at Popesti-Leordeni, including several to
that unit's remaining IAR 81Cs. In mid-August the Americans called them
off as the results were seen not to be worth the heavy losses, but the
IAR 81s had been relegated to the Eastern Front, where their relative
inferiority was much less deadly to their pilots, long before then.
Grupuri 1, 2, and 4
were the last fighter units to solely fly the IAR 80 as grupuri 5 and 6
were converting to the Messerschmitt Bf 109G when the Soviets launched
their long-anticipated offensive on 20 August. Its stunning success
bolstered a coup attempt that took Romania out of the Axis and forced
it to fight their erstwhile allies under Soviet command. The switch
took virtually all sides by surprise and the consequent confusion kept
much of the FARR on the ground until after the formal armistice was
signed with the Soviets on 12 September, although the Romanians began
operations against the Axis on 7 September. The armistice committed the
Romanians to field significant forces to fight Germany and Hungary. The
FARR's contribution was to deploy its most battle-worthy units under
the Corpul Aerian. Several units, including Grupul 6 were forced to
convert back to the IAR 80/81 as the supply of Bf 109s was insufficient
to equip so many units. The Soviets refused to give any equipment or
aircraft, either Soviet or German, to the Romanians and this forced
them to reissue older IAR 80s to replace losses.
The IAR 80s and 81s of
grupuri 2 and 6 provided the majority of its fighter strength until the
year's end as grupul 1 converted to the Bf 109G. By then the Romanians
had scavenged enough ex-German aircraft and parts to equip it. This was
unfortunate for the pilots who had to fly them, as they were virtually
decimated in late September against the experienced Luftwaffe veterans
over Transylvania. However, the numerical inferiority of the Axis over
South-eastern Europe once those veterans were transferred to more
critical fronts worked in favor of the Romanians though the efficient
German flak claimed a number of IAR 80s and 81s. The IAR 80 proved to
be a competent design whose misfortune was to be powered by an engine
that had already maximized its development potential with no other
alternatives available. If the Germans had supplied the BMW 801 it
might well have proven capable of fighting the late-war Allied fighters
on near-equal terms.
Post-war, surviving IAR
80/81s continued in service until 1949 when they were replaced by
Soviet-supplied La-7s and Yak-9s. Those aircraft with the fewest hours
were converted to two-seat IAR 80DC trainers by inserting an additional
cockpit between the engine and the original cockpit in place of a fuel
tank. But even these were literally relegated to the scrap heap by
1952, not one survivor existing today.
Specifications (IAR 80A
Series)
Type: Single
Seat Fighter
Design: IAR
Design Team led by Professor Ion Grossu
Manufacturer:
Industria Aeronautica Româna (IAR) in Brasov
Powerplant:
(Prototype) One 870 hp (694 kW) IAR K14-III C32 engine which was a
licensed Gnome-Rhône 14K II Mistral Major. (IAR 80 first twenty) One
930 hp (694 kW) K14-III C36 14 cylinder double-row radial engine. (IAR
80 21st - 50th aircraft) One 960 hp (716kW) IAR K14-IV C32 air-cooled
14 cylinder double-row radial engine. (IAR 80A) One 1,025 hp (764 kW)
IAR K14-1000A air-cooled 14-cylinder double-row radial engine.
Performance:
Maximum speed 342 mph (550 km/h) at 13,025 ft (3970 m); service ceiling
34,450 ft (10500 m).
Fuel: 100
Imperial gallons (455 litres) plus (IAR 80C) 26.4 gallon (100 liter)
fuel tanks under each wing. All IAR 81 aircraft had the capability to
carry 26.4 gallon (100 litre) fuel tanks under each wing.
Range: 584 miles
(940 km) on internal fuel.
Weight: Empty
equipped 3,924 lbs (1780 kg) with a maximum take-off weight of 5,622
lbs (2550 kg).
Dimensions: Span
34 ft 5 1/4 in (10.50 m); length 29 ft 2 1/2 in (8.90 m); height 11 ft
9 3/4 in (3.60 m); wing area 171.90 sq ft (15.97 sq m).
Armament:
(Prototype) Two 7.92 mm (0.31 in) FN-Browning machine guns. (IAR 80)
Four 7.92 mm (0.31 in) FN-Brownings. (IAR 80A) Six 7.92 mm (0.31 in)
FN-Browning machine guns. (IAR 80B) Two 13.2 mm (0.52 in) and four 7.92
mm (0.31 in) FN-Brownings. (IAR 80C) Two 20 mm Swiss Ikaria
(license-built Oerlikon MG FF) and four 7.92 mm (0.31 in) FN-Brownings.
(IAR 81) Six 7.92 mm (0.31 in) FN-Browning machine guns and a
centreline rack for a single 551 lbs (250 kg) bomb. (IAR 81A) Four 7.92
mm (0.31 in) FN-Brownings and a centreline rack for a single 551 lbs
(250 kg) bomb. (IAR 81B) Two 20 mm Swiss Ikaria (license-built Oerlikon
MG FF) and four 7.92 mm (0.31 in) FN-Brownings. (IAR 81C) Two 20 mm
Mauser cannon and four 7.92 mm (0.31 in) FN-Brownings plus a centreline
rack for a single 551 lbs (250 kg) bomb.
Variants: IAR
80A (production), IAR 80B, IAR 80C, IAR 80M (armament upgrade program),
IAR 80DC (training aircraft), IAR 81 (dive-bomber), IAR 81A, IAR 81B
(long range fighter), IAR 81C (dive-bomber/fighter).
Avionics: None.
History: First
flight (prototype) April 1939; initial deliveries February 1941;
operational 15 April 1941; production ended early 1944 (in favour of
the Messerschmitt Bf 109G); withdrawn operational service 1949; a few
converted to IAR 80DCs in 1950; withdrawn from training service in late
1952.
Operators:
Romania (FARR). |