Development
In order to ensure that the Royal Romanian Air Force or (ARR) could continue to be supplied with aircraft in time of war, the government subsidized the creation of three major aircraft manufacturers in the 1920s and 1930s. The first was Societatea pentru Exploatări Tehnice (SET) which was formed in Bucharest in 1923. Next came Industria Aeronautică Română (IAR) which set up shop in Braşov in 1925. Finally there was Intreprinderea de Construcţii Aeronautice Romaneşti (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.
The fighter contract was eventually won by the Polish PZL P.11, which at the time was considered to be the best fighter in the world. The FARR purchased 50 of a modified version called the P.11b, all of which were delivered in 1934. A second contest was also fought between the newer IAR.24 and PZL P.24 designs, and once again the newer PZL design won a contract for another 50 aircraft.
Although IAR's own designs had not entered production, they nevertheless won the contracts to build many of the airframes under license, as well as providing the engines, licensed versions of the famous Gnome-Rhone 14K. Other licensed contracts included the Potez 25, the Morane-Saulnier 35, and the Fleet 10-G. As a result the company had enough money to fund a design shop even if its designs never saw production.
Despite the constant race with PZL, an IAR design team led by Dr. Ion Grosu continued work on fighter designs. He was convinced that the low wing design pioneered on the IAR.24 represented a much better design than the PZL gull-wing design, which was often referred to as the "Polish wing". Once again the team studied the new PZL fighter looking to incorporate its best features into a new plane, and the result was the IAR.80.
Read more about this topic: IAR 80
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