Please read the description!

low part count version

VR compatible!

Made as a collaborative project between me and DeltaLinkAviation please do check him out, he has a ton of planes with highly detailed cockpits just like this one.

Credits for active involvement: Ku, windshifter1, Rondine, TheMouse/SamTheUncle, and last but not least ollielebanania

Credits for passive involvement aka stolen parts:BogdanX(bomb cradle and middle fuselage markings) ,RicardoACE(ordnance), Hedero(landing gear struts), MonikaAkiyama(simple engine startup) and MisterT (fuselage roundels on allied version and Holosight glass).

With these many people working on it and this many parts stolen from the best IAR-80s available on the site, I guess this plane can be considered a community effort at this point.

WARNING!

Please read the description. This is not only one plane but a pack of planes, all the IAR-80/81 variants have been reproduced with their respective armaments. Some of them are also available in multiple liveries, historical as well as non-historical. If you do not at least read the naming convention Section you will miss out on the full experience that this post has to offer.

-note that some people have encountered issues spawning this at Bandit Airport.

Basic history(skip if uninterested)

The IAR-80 was a further development of the Polish P-24, put together by Industria Aeronautica Româna in order to achieve the specifications of a modern(at that time) fighter capable of comparing itself to other european condenders such as the British Hurricane, German Bf-109 and Russian Polikarpov I-16. It inherits the tail of the P-24 entirely, it also uses and adaptation of the airfoil of the Italian Savoia Marchetti 79 scaled down to size so that it can fit a fighter sized aircraft of course, and a Romanian licensed version of the Gnome-Rhône K-14 radial engine. Early versions were equipped with a basic iron sight but later versions were fitted with a copy of the Barr and Stroud MK2(same sight as the one found on the Spitfire!) produced in Austria under license.
It first flew on April 12th 1939
Initially the IAR-80 was designed to be a pure fighter aircraft, fighter-bomber variants(IAR-81) being designed later during the war as improvisations in order to help the Royal Romanian Airforce cope with the shortage of CAS aircraft such as the Ju-87 Stuka.
IAR-80 fought on the side of the axis over the skies of Bessarabia during the beginning stages operation Barbarossa and claimed its first kills at that time. It was superior in comparison to outdated Russian types such as the I-16 Lagg-3 and the decent but misplaced Mig-3.
It kept its edge during the Crimean campaign.
As the war progressed further, however, IAR-80 came up against much more competitive fighters such as the Yaks and La-5s, and its weaknesses started to show, especially the underpowered K-14 engine which could not produce over 1100HP. Romanian Fighter units transitioned gradually to German 109 variants and it is at that time when the 80(generic reference that also includes the 81 subtype) started to show its valor as a fighter-bomber, being fitted with extra armor, vertical stabilizer struts a centerline bomb cradle as well as wing mounts for bombs and more powerful armaments.
IAR-80 saw action over the Kuban front and it participated in the air battle over Stalingrad.
As the war tuned against Romania, IAR-80 units were relocated to homeland defense against allied bombers, they were used as interceptors, defending the Ploiesti refineries during Operation Tidal Wave. American pilots misidentified it as Fockewulf 190 in their reports. Although at this point outdated from every point of view except maybe armament, the IAR-80 managed to remark itself, especially on June 10, 1944. P-38's Lighting's blackest day as it is referred to, June 10th saw a dogfight between Heavy Bomb laden P-38s and IAR-80s sortied out specifically to intercept them. Only 14 Romanian loses occurred while 10 of those were actual fighters. It would go down as the blackest day for the combat history of the P-38 lightning with a 30% loss rate. It represented the worst loss rate during a single mission of any American Fighters during WWII.
On 23 August 1944 Romania signed an armistice with the United Nations and joined the war against Germany, IAR-80 was used all the way to the end of the war as a fighter bomber/ interceptor and saw action over Transylvania Hungary and Slovakia

Naming convention

If the naming convention seems confusing, its not your fault, it was indeed confusing, many aircraft which were returned to factories for upgrades kept their serial number and tail marked designation regardless of technically falling under a new type designation after the upgrades,
80 refers generally to pure fighter types while 81 refers to types adapted to fighter/bomber duty. No letters or A designation refers to light armaments, 4 or 6 7.92 FN Browning Machineguns, B refers to Intermediary armament such as 4 7.92 FN Browning Machineguns and 2 13.2 FN Browning Machineguns, Cs refers to heavy armaments, either 4 7.92 FN Browning Machineguns and 2 Oerlikon FF/20 cannons or 2 7.92 FN Browning Machineguns and 2 MG-151/20 cannons and M refers to an attempt at standardization, usually fitted with the same armament as the C. There are however exceptions to this rule.

VERSIONS(CLICKABLE)

IAR-80EARLY

IAR-80LATE

IAR-80A semi-historical livery

IAR-80A alternative fictional livery

IAR-80B non historical winter livery

IAR-80C historical livery

IAR-80C generic livery allied

IAR-80M generic livery

IAR-81

IAR-81A semi-historical generic livery

IAR-81C historical livery(here)

IAR-81C alternative historical livery

IAR-81C fictional livery

IAR-81C fictional loadout(War Thunder)

IAR-81C historical livery allied

IAR-81C semi-historical livery allied

Instructions and cockpit gauges explained.

The plane uses an "advanced" flight model that tries to be realistic, joystick recommended, mouse as joystick is not ideal but adequate, keyboard flying is highly unrecommended, avoid aggressive moves of the stick and high deflection angles as you risk bleeding too much speed and ultimately loosing control, tested on low physics so it is recommended to use low physics but it most likely works on medium and high as well.

1. Manifold pressure(throttle)
2. Rev Indicator(do not overspeed please)
3. Propeller pitch indicator
4. Engine temperature gauge(it works but does not affect gameplay)
5. Speedometer
6. Altimeter
7. Horizontal veer indicator
8. Heading and bank indicator
9. Variometer
10. Fuel gauge
11. Landing Gear indicator

Stats(wikipedia)

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 8.97 m (29 ft 5 in)
Wingspan: 11 m (36 ft 1 in)
Height: 3.600 m (11 ft 10 in)
Wing area: 17 m2 (180 sq ft)
Empty weight: 2,200 kg (4,850 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 3,030 kg (6,680 lb)
Fuel capacity: 330 kg (730 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × IAR K14-IV C32 1000A 14-cylinder two-row air-cooled radial piston engine, 750 kW (1,000 hp)
Propellers: 3-bladed constant-speed propeller
Performance

Maximum speed: 510 km/h (320 mph, 280 kn) 524 Km/h at 5,350 m in tests of IAR 80 Nr.2 on 16.12.1940
Range: 730 km (450 mi, 390 nmi) on internal fuel only
Ferry range: 1,330 km (830 mi, 720 nmi) with extra fuel tanks
Service ceiling: 10,000 m (33,000 ft)
Time to altitude: 4'41" – 7'00" to 5,000 meters (depending on variant)
Wing loading: 132.35 kg/m2 (27.11 lb/sq ft)

Gallery(THANKS TO WINDSHIFTER1!!!)

Extra screenshots by Ollielebanana

Interior

You have reached the end, thank you, enjoy the plane!

July 4th 2024 made it on the first page!