The IAR-80/81; Romanian Rumbler
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- Опубликовано: 27 сен 2024
- The Interwar Period saw Romania investing heavily in its military and defence infrastructure. Keen not to be reliant on foreign suppliers, this included licence building aircraft, which proved a stepping stone to the nation building their first indigenous designed fighter aircraft.
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Hi!
I have to praise you for digging up so much material (and most of the footage) related to IAR-80/81!
But I would add that this fighter was actually designed for a Junkers Jumo engine. The fact that we used the radial one was because the Germans repeatedly failed to deliver it. And that was thought to be a temporary solution... Expecting the delivery of Jumos, we even tried to mount a DB601 on the IAR-80 but with little success, because of too much vibration in the structure.
Ironically, it was determined that the plane had better performance with the radial IAR1000 series of engine than with the intended Jumos and that is why we never changed it... But with the ever increasing weight during the development, the 1025hp were becoming more and more insufficient and the performance decreased.
There would be some other stories about this fighter but I would just want to say that we took great pride in producing it.
Even though there were only 461 made in total.
Thank you and greetings from Brașov, Romania! Home of the former IAR Factory...
Thank you for the additional information. One of the things I enjoy about this channel is that many viewers have facts to add to what Mr. Nash has presented; it's a great team.
Ok this is awesome.
Thanks for sharing this very informative info regarding the IAR 80/81
Thank you Radu - good to hear more information!!
Thanks Radu
Hats off to Romania for developing such a great fighter. Hell of a plane.
Even though it copied or bought most of its parts from foreign companies.
@@sandgrownun66 Your point?
@@benlaskowski357 My point is that the Romania had little to do with their own development of the aircraft. It was a parts bin special, cobbled together using foreign designs and parts.
@@sandgrownun66 The result was excellent. Problem is none exist today. Seeing one flying would be awesome.
@@benlaskowski357 hi! Search for "iar 80 redivivus". Not sure wether YT allows links in comments.
Probably the best aircraft designed and made by a minor power in ww2 .
Major power*
@@manoleiustin8839Romania was not a major power
@@TinyBearTim yes it was
@@manoleiustin8839 no it wasn’t
And, I feel, the most elegant of all.
I absolutely adore this aircraft in War Thunder.
Those cannons absolutely shred anything.
Outstanding! had never heard of these aircraft.. but have always had some sympathy for those countries - like Romania - that really were stuck between a rock and a hard place...
Personally, I think this is one of the most beautiful planes from that time-frame.
Yes, it looks beautiful.
Good looking aircraft. It reminds me of the Hughes H-1 Racer.
Yes, it does closely resemble the H-1.
It reminds me of the FW 190.
an h-1 meets the ta-152
Cockpit and tail on the 80 remind me of the Corsair. Cowling and engine remind me of the 190, and wing placement reminds me of the f6f.
All in all, a hodgepodge. But a great one.
@@calvingreene90 -= The FW190A or the D as in Dora?
I would love to see a reproduction or rebuilt IAR 80 in flight. I've flown the 80 quite a bit in Combat Flight Simulator 3, and while it's quite a handful at first, it's also easily capable of outmanouvering virtually any of its enemies from the period. A great kite that deserves to be rescued from the scrapheap, absolutely!
I should mention that the IAR 80 isn't available in the stock game, but only in the massive ETO add-on created by the gaming community.
Hopefully they can reconstruct and rebuild at least (1) one of these fantastic planes!
+ Ken Downing There is a project to construct one or more flying IAR-80 replicas. It looks like they might still be information gathering and planning/funding.
@@FiveCentsPlease Thank you for the update! Keep them coming if you have the time.
This is one of my favorite ww2 airplanes
Been waiting for this one, a fascinating fighter and looks cool to boot.
Has a similar look to the Corsair, long nose, the canopy style
This plane has always been aesthetically pleasing and looked advanced for the time , good video
It almost looks like an inter-war racer.
It lacks only gull wings to be a corsair!
@@jacobmccandles1767 The cockpit is too far back resulting in bad visibility during taxiing/landing - just like Corsair.
@@ildart8738 lol...yep.
@@Markle2k Kurt Tank admitted that the Hughes racer was part of his inspiration for the FW190. Basically; a very clean aerodynamic form behind a radial engine. The sleek, low-drag fuselage and wings to compensate for the inherent front-end drag of a radial.
Beautiful aircraft. One of my favourite fighters of that era.
As a Romanian IAR was a good plane made at Ghimbav and later newer models with modern engines ("jets") at Brasov
A very attractive airplane! The Romanians worked hard on the design and production of this aircraft resulting in a successful warplane!
The first thing the Soviets did after reaching Romania was to dismantle Romania’s aircraft industry.. this says alot about the capacity of the plane.
They did that to all factories - even in the Czech Republic, which was occupied by Germany while the Soviets made a lot of waves telling how they'd protect the Czechs. Looting industrial equipment is a Russian trademark.
any sort of military industry.
they did that because 'the commie block' was supposed to buy only 'made in USSR' and historically, after the poles ever since the mid 19th century there was a special place waiting for the romanians if the russians kept pooring. And the IAR did do a number on the reds given that the Romanian Principalities were always considered colonies ever since the tzars became neighbors. Funny how with the end of the 20th century the Kharkiv factories became ewww to the russians all of a sudden :)
Nice looking plane, I hope they can put one together and get it flying - it deserves to be remembered
This is an interesting plane and it made a very good showing of its self which speak highly of the pilots, ground crews and the engineers working on. It is nice to hear of planes not built by the the big four England, US, Germany and Russia. It's also interesting to hear about an aircraft developed in the the late 30's who's story doesn't end "but with the outbreak of war all work ceased on the aircraft and...."
Romania had artillery (and decided to focus on field guns, part anti tank part artillery excel at none) and aircraft, and conversely Hungary specialized in tanks and anti aircraft to counter in WW2
I'm glad you did this. I love the IAR 81
I'm so envy that poles never got anything as great as iar. Ending our home built fighter's history on pzl 11/24 it's sad for me
Actually the Polish aircraft industry came up with a very good light bomber before war broke out. I forget what the designation was but it was called the elk I believe. It was a twin engine bomber mono playing and I think it was all monocac construction. It was faster than most of its contemporaries and carried a reasonable bomb load.
@@JohnRodriguesPhotographer pzl 37 Łoś (moose)
I'm kinda aware that our industry was capable of doing good planes but the biggest problem was making any good engines. Every our plane was underpowered
@@PunkinsSan
We had the same problem in Romania!...
@@PunkinsSan true a lot of countries had trouble with producing high-powered engines. You look at the Italians they never really got around to making a truly high-powered engine. There last few fighters ended up using German DB 601 engines I think it was.
I hope the enthusiasts can create a plane from the parts.
Search for "iar 80 redivivus"
Seems to be a good plane. Imagine the increase in performance it it had got the FW190 engine with 50% more power, it would have been a good adversary for any peer.
A great video on a largely overlooked indigenous fighter from one of the lesser Axis powers. The IAR 80 was a pretty good fighter during the early war period, where they served with distinction on the Russian front, but was starting to suffer from serious shortcomings (limited engine output, steadily increasing weight, etc) by 1943, which is why the Romanian air force eventually switched to the Bf-109. Still, for what was essentially a "cobbled together" design (PZL tail, SM 79 outer wing panels) it was in every way a thoroughly modern and capable fighter when first introduced.
A quick note, though; "Ion" (as in Ion Antonescu) is the Romanian equivalent of the English "John," and sounds more like "yawn."😉
One of the cooler looking planes of its era.
Is it just me, or does this thing look like a Vought Corsair with straight wings instead of inverted gull wings ?
That was my initial thought when I saw the video pop up
You're right! But maybe it looks even more like a Hughes H-1.
Exactly!
No the Corsair is a IAR 80 with gull wings :)
that airplane actually has some good looking lines from certain angles.
Well it certainly was a lovely looking bird!
Great proportions. Looks like it'd handle beautifully with no load and half fuel.
I always thought this was the best looking radial engine fighter.
A real beauty of an aircraft.
Always had a healthy respect for these Romanian IAR fighters. They were formidable machines, and were a dangerous pestilence to USAAF bombers.
They also use to like chewing p-38 lightnings as a snack 😅
@@razvanursache9493
Do you have factual figures of such claim beyond anecdotal references my friend?
@@erickmeza-viera2668 ruclips.net/video/gLI8bXDm8Yg/видео.html,
@@erickmeza-viera2668 they did shoot down 23 Lightnings,but the IAR's were in larger numbers and it was a low altitude fight,a place where the lightning didn't like to be.
that part of history is viewed as shamefully unfortunate but the IAR's did do damage to the reds. That is where they were supposed to be other than over the oilfields.
To make sure that we, Romanians do not produce again planes, they convert the factory to a tractor factory. First it was named Savrom Tractor and later UTB (Long tractors for the USA) IAR still exist this day but just as a maintenance for various companies, while UTB the original company doesn't. In it's place is Coresi Mall with only few of the original buildings remaining such as the original hangar (at 0:37 in the left and 12:58)
really? IAR 99 is flying already
IAR ceased to operate in 1948 or so when it Became the late UTB. The first tractor was named IAR 22 (can be seen today in front of the Coresi MALL Brasov) Only 1968 or so became ICA - Ghimbav an only after the revolution return to its original name but it was already separate from UTB who closed it's gates for good in 2005 or 2006@@Sofia-0001
Traiasca Romania!
Amazing l did not ever know of this plane before Ed posted this video ans l am in my 80's....Thanks very much Ed.....Shoe🇺🇸
You're very welcome :D
Wow! Romanian IAR was more aerodynamic, had better canopy, and better landing gear than the Germans BF109. Germans should have combined the best of the Romanian IAR with FW190.
I never heard of this aircraft! It seems like a good design, despite it's low HP engine. Thanks for the info.
Looks to me a little like an FW190, especially with the gear down. Thanks again Ed, I knew hardly anything about this machine until now.
yup, the American pilots actually confused them to 190s over Ploiești. Of course the IAR80 it's an earlier plane and FW190s were not involved in the defense of Romania, at least in 1942.
Or a straight winged Corsair
@@grumpyadi that is because the production output of almost anything was not that great and once switching to the Bf 109 patents, remaining stock of IAR's quickly depleted. They were better than anything the reds threw out until late war.
I can imagine 'american' reports about IAR's over Ploiesti raids being FW's similar to the reports about late Pz IV's being all Tigers
Thanks a lot, really enjoyed watching this excellent documentary about the "Elegant Romanian", how the IAR-80 / 81s used to be called. It was a beautiful plane, and an excellent dog fighter with well proven track record. Good memories...
Thank you for covering one of my favourites; a great looking plane.
I think they are one of the best looking fighters of WW2 though i might be biased :)). Too bad they never got engines that could show their full potential.
Since several people commented on the looks resembling a Corsair i'll add this for context:
It's just a case of similar problems solved in similar ways. I see similarities with the FW190 and maybe the Zero, all very different designs developed independently of each other.
But the laws of physics are the same for everyone so if you put a big radial at the front the cowl is needed to improve aerodynamics, a wide landing gear is better than a narrow one, a bubble canopy offers better visibility than one flushed with the rear fuselage, if you have too much weight at the front the easiest way to fix that is to stretch the rear part (FW190 went through similar development stages with the different engines being fitted) etc. etc. :))
Well they tried to put a DB605 in the aircraft but this made it quite unstable in flight.
@@woutcristael689 They had engine "supply" issues from the start. It was designed with one engine in mind than they had to redesign for another then another. Partly why the development was so slow.
Thanks for all the work you've shared on this one. I've always thought it was a handsome aircraft but never realized it was so successful.
The adage if it looks good ... I never knew about this plane. Great video, subscribed.
Two of my favorite "obscure" WW2 aircraft in the same video, IAR-80 and He-112. If one of the "too late, not enough" Dutch fighters gets mentioned I'll have my trifecta.
Thanks Ed, have always wanted a documentary on thr IAR 80-81. Thank you
It's sad I've never heard of this aircraft before. But that's what makes your videos so great.
It isn't well-known because Romania didn't have as much in the PR department as the larger countries did. Being on the losing side of the war didn't help either.
@@eze417 well, to be fair they were on the winning side as well, just like Italy.
@@SoloRenegade One difference is that Romania was pulled into the Soviet sphere of influence after the war and Italy wasn't. I think Churchill was behind that, but my theory takes too long to explain here. 😁
@@eze417 Yes! In October 1944, Winston Churcill sold Romania to Stalin. Funny enough, in August 1944, Churcill promised to the King of Romania that he will protect him and his country from Stalin. British loyalty, unfortunately for Romania.
you did not heard of because once the reds took over Romania after WW2 (reinstated the banned communists, not making it an SSR complete dump) first thing was to erase as much of non-soviet and precursor history and events as possible. And internally nowadays WW2 is still considered a complete waste unlike WW1.
Fascinating stuff. Some great footage of the IAR-80 there, really enjoyed this.
I can't be the only one who thinks this looks like the love-child of the FW-190 & F-4U, can I?
I knew of this aircraft. Good to learn more details of it's histor. A pity there isn't one preserved.
Kewl, never heard of this plane in my 58 yrs of being fascinated by all aircraft! Keep up the excellent work 👏 👍 👌
A BMW 801 powered version would certainly have been something. A sleek looking aircraft.
The thing which disturbs me the most about the IAR 80/81 is the lack of a tailwheel...
Edit: other than that, despite shortcomings, I think they're quite elegant and their performance is surprisingly decent despite engines which were under-powered compared to contemporary fighters (in use that is, not in design year).
The prototype Spitfire had a tail skid, fine for grass airfields.
Very advanced design, well before its time. Although under-powered and under-armed, Its essentially a Fw190 BEFORE the Fw190 came out of factory!
Yes! The day has come! I remember when I asked you for it under the Pyorremyrsky's video! Loving the vid already!
;)
This was hell of a plane. Best low altitude fighter of the entire war up to 1943. A good ground attack plane after that
I actually had the pleasure of meeting Princess Sophie, Prince (King) Michael's daughter a few times, she was best friends with my GF at the time. They met at the Corcoran school of art, very nice woman and accomplished photographer 🙂
Handsome aircraft. It's cool that Romania, Hungary and Yugoslavia all designed comparable fighters, even though only Romania and Yugoslavia ended up putting them into production.
Say what you want, it was a beautiful aircraft.
You should definitely make a video about PZL P.7 or P.11. Both are really interesting planes
Not to mention the P-24 which served with so many air forces.
Slick little machine. Looks like a PZL 24 and the Hughes H1 racer got passionate with each other...
petrica diaconu bacau romania IAR 80 motor KARP 1000 o realizare de exceptie a inginerilor si specialistilor de la IAR brasov recunostinta noastra
Wow, I'm about to build a "special hobby" IAR-81.
Thanks for the video.
they had the best looking planes during the war. Beautiful things
Incredible story, a truly unknown corner of the war.
The polesti raids were in romania. Horrible losses occurred.
That reconstruction looks to be a worthy project, I'll look forward to any news about it.
Thank you so much for this look at an aircraft that deserves the attention you have given it.
A very capable looking example of it's ilk.
I also liked Radu's comment which gave meat to the bones.
So this was the Romanian main fighter throughout the war. Who knew? It looked hard to see out of, though, especially when landing.
Dear Mr. Nash. Once again you produce a valuable snippet, whose short content does not in any way reflect on the work being put into its production. Thank you.
Just imagine - my Dacia Duster Diesel probably has roots that can be traced back to this period. Never occurred to me.
ruclips.net/video/0QtOa7cP6MQ/видео.html
if Renault sticks around maybe the first flying car we romanians all wait for will be an IAR xD (Dacia comes from the times of the romans)
Ed, you're the 'bomb' . . . . . . blasting us away with more previously unknown knowledge . . . . I am forever grateful . . . . . thank you!
More than welcome ;)
Unknown to me thanks for sharing it's great history.
when I first heard about this plane, the bubble canopy made me think the design was post 1942 at least; in 39/40, afaik, only the Spitfire had one, and it's not as good as this one.
Yes, quite elegant!
They were the same but different? Nicknamed the "Malcon" hood.
@@throttleblipsntwistedgrips1992, they weren’t nicknamed the Malcolm Hood, they were called the Malcolm Hood because they were manufactured by R Malcolm and Co. in the UK.
The canopy on the IAR.80 series was made in the same way, a blown acrylic enclosure, but it wasn’t a ‘Malcolm Hood’ as it wasn’t made by R Malcolm and Co.
The only production aircraft genuinely fitted with Malcolm Hoods were the Spitfire and the P-51B.
@@Pete-tq6in nice info - thank you!!
@@Simon_Nonymous if you compare both hoods (at least with the early model Spits) the IAR's a bit bigger, and the forward frame doesn't block visibility somewhat less.
Thanx for yet another amazing mini documentary, Ed Nash!
It would carry the same load as a late p39 on 70% of the power. Below 16000ft it had an overall slightly superior maneuvering envelope to a p38. It had none of the harsh accelerated angle of attack difficulties of the 51 or the Butcher Bird. The Fowler flap it had could be use at 10deg deflection at mach .79. Phill Coleman rated it above Castoldi's 200 series machines on handling.
The aircraft fuselage reminds me of an F-4U without the inverted gull wing and maybe the tail from the FW-190. Good looking plane however.
it had a similar cabin canopy, the nose was similar to the FW190 and the wings were rather similar to Italian aircraft of the time.
5:12 Reminds me of a cartoon with a young boy and girl, that I unfortunately have forgotten the title of.
One of my favorite planes when playing "IL2 1946" - I really like it!
Mine as well. Had many hours in that little thing, fighting La-7's, mustangs and P-39's.
It's worth mentioning that the IAR-80/81 is in development, as we speak, for the new version of Il-2 and it should come to the game in this fall.
It's already up for preorder on the Il-2 site.
Can't wait.
Sad that none survive today.
People really do seem to underestimate "Under preforming" or "Obsolete" aircraft. I can't tell you how many stories I've heard of aircraft thought to be outdated, obsolete or under preforming punching well above their weight when in the hands of a minor nation's military who just make do with what they get/got, and quite often said minor nations seem to be the fiercest most capable fighters with Finnland being a perfect example of nation and the Curtis P-36 Hawks in aircraft.
it just looks good
It's actually quite a beautiful design. With the FW-190's BMW radial, it couldn't been a world-class fighter.
The engine was an old french design, lol, Gnome-Rhône Mistral Major, the romanian were unable to great their own, so they just bought the french license. And the FW engine was some 1500 HP, compare that with the 700 HP on the early models IAR ! Even after years of upgrades, they never got that thing able to produce more than 1000 HP, when the rest of the world produced 1700-1800 HP engines and jet engines... so, by all means, was always an outclassed fighter.
Thank you. I was hoping to see this one on your channel.
Definitely a success story.
It reminds me of the Curtis Hawk
Another interesting tale of an aircraft I had no knowledge about. Cheers
Nice, im loving seeing how other countries all develop something to do a similar task, and i think the 1935-1945 era of design and mechanism is the pinnacle of asthetics (not even sure thats the right word) i like the look, the design of construction, the sound of a large piston engine, and so fourth. My favorite are the japanese designs, but they are all nice now that they dont have to fight eachother. If i were bezos rich, i would have someone manufacture an a5m, a6m2, ki43, ki44, brewster buffalo and id buy a cac boomerang. Tbh id probably have someone build me a g4m aswell i love that thing haha
Never thought I'd hear Ed say ayaya that many times
IAR 80/81 prove that looking right is being right.
Looks like something that would be in Crimson Skies tbh.
4:40 General Ion? Nice name. 🆒😎
Looks like a straight winged Corsair
One of my favorite and best fighters in the early years of the war!
Looks a bit like a Vought F4U Corsair with a simpler wing.
Thanks Ed!
This shows how impoverished the Axis allies were. This is a decent aeroplane, but was delivered is extremely small numbers.
Romania never created the industrial capacity of the other powers. It doesn't help when your country changes side mid-war.
Forward visibility must have been awful. Although the wide undercarriage is decent. The IAR 80 was a pretty clean low wing semi monocoque airplane, if somewhat underpowered.
This planes design looks like it easily could have been used for ultra high reconnaissance and surveillance. A little tweaking of the wing, a multistage super and turbo chargers, and a pressurized cockpit. It could have kept tabs on the enemy and taken great Arial photos.
Didn't Howard Hughes have a racing plane looking a bit like?
Always liked this one. For some reason it reminds me of the Japanese Zero: somewhat underpowered and therefore lacking things like armor plate and self-sealing fuel tanks. But good range, and a decent dogfighter, once they got the armament sorted out. The Romanians definitely got their money's worth out of them.
Problem with the statement about the A6M is that few if any fighters had things like self sealing fuel tanks and armour plate in the period when they first entered service. They were not an exception at that time in that regard, but the norm.
Those things came in later, when the aircraft were already well into their service career and as powerplants gradually became more powerful and war time lessons were applied. Fact is late version A6M's DID have self sealing fuel tanks AND armour plate to protect the pilots vitals. This however is generally not appreciated because the early versions of the aircraft lacked those things. But then so did most other fighters of that period. They were not unusual.
Damn , that plane must have PTSD, went from a monarchy, to a fascist government, back to a monarchy for a while and then a "communist" state
Nice video on a very interesting plane!