The ICAR 36 / ICAR Comercial (sic), variously also known as the ICAR M 36, Messerschmitt M 36 or BFW M.36, was a

Messerschmitt Messerschmitt AG () was a German share-ownership limited, aircraft manufacturing corporation named after its chief designer Willy Messerschmitt from mid-July 1938 onwards, and known primarily for its World War II fighter aircraft, in partic ...

design built and tested by the Romanian company ICAR in the mid-1930s. It was a small, single-engine high-wing

airliner An airliner is a type of aircraft for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an ...

, the first civil transport aircraft built in Romania.

Design & development

In April 1933, Erhard Milch, previously head of Deutsche Luft Hansa, was appointed Secretary of State for Air. Relations between Milch and Willy Messerschmitt had been bad ever since the cancellation and later re-ordering of the

BFW M.20 The BFW M.20 (also known as the Messerschmitt M.20 after the designer's surname) was a German single-engine, high-wing monoplane ten-seat passenger transport aircraft, developed in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Deutsche Luft Hansa used it th ...

by Luft Hansa, and the future of orders for BFW looked bleak. That summer, a visit was made to Romania, where an order was placed by Întreprinderea de Construcții Aeronautice Românești (ICAR) for the design of a small airliner, to be built by them in Romania. ICAR designated it the ICAR 36; Messerschmitt, working at BFW referred to it as the M 36.

Description

The ICAR 36 was a high-wing cantilever monoplane of mixed construction, with a closed cockpit, single engine, and fixed landing gear. It had a welded steel tube fuselage, covered with plywood, and tapered single-spar, plywood-covered wings. The crew of two sat in the cockpit, forward of the wing, which was equipped with a radio and could be fitted with twin controls. The cabin for six passengers, with wide rectangular windows and access doors at the rear, was aft and below the cockpit / wings. There were also two baggage compartments.

One aircraft (YR-ACS) was built, later modified with a cabin for five passengers and two luggage compartments. Initially intended to be powered by a licence-built Gnome & Rhône 7K radial engine, the aircraft was eventually fitted with a Armstrong Siddeley Serval I ten-cylinder radial engine in a NACA cowling., which was, in turn, replaced with a

Lorraine 7M Mizar The Lorraine 7M Mizar, also called the Lorraine 240CV Mizar, was a seven-cylinder air-cooled radial engine designed and built in France during the 1920s and 1930s. Nominal power was given as at 1500rpm (maximum continuous power), with a maximum ...

47, driving a three-bladed propeller. The fixed landing gear was supported by long faired vertical struts to the wings, with teardrop spats over the mainwheels and a tailwheel at the end of the fuselage. A tri-motor development was planned, but not realized.

Operational history

Only one aircraft was built, operated by LARES on several internal routes including the Bucharest to

Cernauti Chernivtsi ( uk, Чернівці́}, ; ro, Cernăuți, ; see also other names) is a city in the historical region of Bukovina, which is now divided along the borders of Romania and Ukraine, including this city, which is situated on the upp ...

route.

Operators

; * LARES

Specifications (I.C.A.R. 36 Comercial)

References

External links

Photos and drawings at Ugolok Neba site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Icar Comercial 1930s Romanian airliners ICAR 36 Single-engined tractor aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1934