NOTE: RADIO CONTROL AIRPLANES ARE ON THE BOTTOM HALF OF THE PAGE.
The IAR 80, a Polish fighter variant, but with much better performance, was produced by Industria Aeronautica Romania. It was Romania's best fighter aircraft of World War II.
The latest model and its predecessor had similar nose and tail sections, but the mid section differed. Perhaps the most noticeable difference was its much more modern bubble-type canopy.
The fighters are probably best known for their defense of the Romanian Ploesti oil fields. On June 10, 1944 forty-six aircraft from the U.S. 82nd Fighter Group armed with 1,000 lb. bombs escorted by forty-eight more aircraft of the First Fighter Group attacked Ploesti on a low level raid.
About 56 IAR 80 aircraft intercepted the enemy. In the short period of combat that followed, a total of 23 enemy aircraft were downed with a loss of five IAR 80's. The combat took place at low altitude in a tight valley which gave the IAR 80 the advantage. They had far less success against high altitude raids.
A total of about 250 of the aircraft were produced. Of those, a little over 100 were still active at the end of World War II. A number were converted to two seat trainers which served the Romania Air Force until 1952.
Although we have seen a few scratch built rc IAR 80 airplanes, we only know of one radio control airplane kit.
Pictured above is the scratch built rc IAR 80 by Serban of RC Groups. It has a wing span of 35". Depron foam is the material used in its construction. Power comes from a 1050 kV motor swinging a 9.5 propeller.
The first picture below is of the rc IAR 80 for sale from Warbird Kits. It is a ARF with a wing span of 34". It has a fuselage length of 29". Materials used in the construction are balsa and plywood. You can power it with a Speed 400 size motor.
We received the following email from Paul prm (gigistanga2000@yahoo.com):
Probably the smallest IAR 80 RC is actually
a 1/15 scale of Vizanty’s “White 344” IAR 81C.
Has a customized motor able to develop
450 -500 gram-force of thrust for a flying weight of
300 grams including a 3s 1300 mAh LiPo. The wing profile is a Clark Y with built
in wash-out and 68 gram/cm sqr. Very fast and stable is a pleasure to fly with astonishing
vertical evolutions and impressive razmots. Just can disappear very quickly
from the visual control zone which explains the extra large absolutely NOT REAL
yellow wing tips…
A 10 degrees elevator is enough to execute inverted loops;
however the inverted flight is not very stable. The rudder has also a lot of
authority but the ailerons are not very efficient although the full-length of
the wing is used.
The model has by now more than 50 hours of flight on the
original Futaba 3141 servos and accounts for one battery and several props
wrecked. I am carrying this small machine always in my trunk and I
am flying it daily in good weather. I fully recommend it for medium-advanced
park flyers." His rc IAR 80 can be seen in the second picture down. Thank you Paul.
We received the following email from Ian Hemingway from New Zealand:
"RC I.A.R. 80
Have a look at this months Reg Heath's Modelflight workshop page.
Also www.hamiltonmac.org.nz photos / video clips Cheers Ian"
Ian's rc IAR 80 can be seen in the bottom picture below. It has a wingspan of 54" and weighs 72 oz. Power comes from a O.S. .46 engine.
That's a great looking rc IAR 80. Thank you for writing, Ian.
Have you seen RC IAR 80 radio control airplane we should put on this page? If you have, please email us.
IAR 80
