AERONAUTICA REGALA ROMANA



An IAR 80 The most advanced indigenous fighter aircraft produced by Romania in WWII. Since the revolution in Romania there has been a small amount of information comming out on the Royal Rumanian Airforces in WWII. A few of the veterans have unearthed old log books and are speaking to a limited degree on those days. Attempts for the past year have turned up little in response from embassies, universities and museums. From Rumania expatriates here in the USA I'm told that the war years were not discussed in schools and little is known outside a small military circle of aging veterans. The Rumanian airforce was at wars outbreak one of the worlds largest and well over 500 of her airmen lost their lives in that war. The Ploiesti oilfields would be the most recognizable combat arena to the American reader but the ARR fought from the stepps of Russia to later in the mountains of Czechlovakia against the German forces. It is one of the least documented group of veterans. Any help in tracing one fo the aircrew members would be appreciated. my e-mail is tearnold@erols.com
work in progress 4/13/2001


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The Dive Bomber variant of the IAR 81 ............ and an IAR 80 in combat over the Dniper with a Soviet YAK.

Thanks to Victor Nitu of Bucharest Romania for the use of these photos and his assistance with this project.

7th FG (Bf-109G) ------ 6th FG(IAR-80) - ---- 1st FG(IAR-80) ---- 6th DBGJu-87D)---- 9th FG(Bf-109G)
The best known Ju 88 in the USA of all the 15,000 built. On July 22, 1943, it was flown to Cyprus by a defecting Rumanian Air Force pilot who had become disillusioned with his German Luftwaffe superior officers. USAF MUSEUM
LINKS:
The IAR 80 Color Photos of a possible rebuilt aircraft.
Royal Romanian Aeronautics WWII site
Victor Nitu's Romanian WWII site Comprehensive and well done one of the very few on the web for Romania.

Romanian WWII Avaition site Mostly in Romanian but some excelent photos and some English text page in the works. Thanks Victor for the link
Books on the Subject This just released book is the only English language reference available. It is the culmination of a 15 year effort by the author who is from Rumania and has traveled back often speak with the veterans who could not speak openly in the atmosphere that existed in the days before the revolution.

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