Romania may not be the first place to come to mind when it comes to aviation, but believe it or not, they too invested in their own aviation development, and still do to this day. One of their iconic aircraft that is just as unknown as its aviation industry, the Industria Aeronautica Româna model 80.

First designed in 1930, the Romanian government purchased 50 Polish P.24s, which were high wing, low-power, fighter planes that were relatively cheap. After studying how they were constructed, the IAR developed a design largely incorporating the PZ P.24's monocoque construction, but adding a completely new wing structure, new guns, a redesigned cockpit, and new landing gear, while retaining the rear strut instead of a wheel. In 1939, the first prototype flew, and it surprisingly kept up with most fighters of the time, achieving above 300 miles per hour, and it had an amazing armament for the time, with 2 20mm autocannons, and 2 7.63 guns. However, it was not put in active service until 1941, which by then it was outcompeted by allied fighters. So, the IAR 81 was developed, which was basically an IAR 80, but with a hook that lobs bombs off of the fuselage for CAS work.

Pictures

This is the only one in existence today, the USSR scrapped them all, and a replica was recently made for a museum in Bucharest, Romania

Romanian P.24

Controls

VTOL Down: flaps
Normal Flight Controls

Nothing too fancy on this one!

Notes:

Hey y'all! I started this build about a year ago and lost interest in it. I just recently started back up in this game. I was working on an XF-88B Voodoo when I got bored of it, so I decided I'd put the finishing touches on this. I know she kinda sucks, but my building quality and my details and patience have increased from this build. Think of it as a super mobile-friendly fun plane! She's simple and gets the job done!