Iar.80 and Iar.81: Airframe, Systems and Equipment

Those who complain that there is no operational history here should note the title -'Airframes, Systems & Equipment'. It would require a book twice the size to cover operations as well in any detail- and it is true that Romania's complex WW2 history - fighting on both sides- defies straightforward coverage of that subject.As a technical history this is superb. I have rarely seen such excellent technical drawings- including a fantastic cut- away of the radial engine (clearly taken from an original instruction manual) and colour depictions of the instrument board, every single instrument being labeled and described. From the drawings you could build your own Browning 13.2mm heavy machine gun!The 450 I.A.R 80 & 81's were built in 16 series, mostly numbering between ten and twenty aircraft. Romania used these fighters in many roles and in support of he ground war many were employed as dive bombers. Each batch of aircraft has its own chapter here and you can glean something of the operational history from the detailed photo captions.Production standards are very high- this is a soft back book but it features the high quality gloss paper that makes first class reproduction of the numerous illustrations possible. Some diagrams have been reduced from a larger original scale, which makes the annotation rather hard to read, and the print size throughout the book is all rather small- but this is the only real criticism I have. It is a book for the serious enthusiast and it should be valued as such. We should be thankful that Radu Brinzan, who is of course Romanian, has taken such trouble to produce this fine book in English. He has also translated a number of Romanian aviation publications into our language.

This is a detailed technical book covering all variants of this important and attractive, but little known type. There are scale plans and written information covering all versions. Sadly, nothing is included about their operations or pilots. This is probably due to soviet suppression as the Romanians had fought on the Axis side and then fell under the Iron curtain after the war - any heroic stories of combat and successes against Russia and the Allies becoming shameful and forgotten under communist leadership. An ideal book for technophiles and modelers alike. A talented modeler could scratch build an accurate replica with just this book for reference. All that is needed now is for a mainstream manufacturer to produce an affordable model kit of the plane, the only ones available to date being from the more expensive 'short run' manufacturers. Someone send a copy of the book to Airfix please!

Little published in English on this aircraft. But this book goes into great detail, with good colour profiles, a large collection of photographs, and detailed line drawings with cross-sectional profiles for fuselage and wings. Commentary is restricted, with the nearest to a general history being two pages in the introduction. But a good collection of information, and plenty of detail.

A very comprehensive book on a good looking Rumanian fighter from WW2, great attention to loads of detail. Markings and colour schemes pretty comprehensively covers too. There was very little info available on this aircraft till this superb publication came along.......well done.

A really well written and detailed monograph on an obscure aircraft which seems to have had considerable merit.Briiliant scale drawings of each variant including the structure - you should almost be ale to build a real one with this detail