The IAR 37 was a 1930s

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

n reconnaissance or light bomber aircraft built by

Industria Aeronautică Română Industria Aeronautică Română (IAR) (now IAR S.A. Brașov) or Romanian Aeronautic Industry in English, is a Romanian aerospace manufacturer. It is based in Ghimbav, near Brașov, Romania. IAR was founded in 1925 with the aid of the Romanian g ...

Development

The IAR 37 prototype was flown for the first time in 1937 to meet a requirement for a tactical bombing and reconnaissance aircraft. The IAR 37 was an unequal-span single bay biplane with a fixed tailwheel landing gear and powered by a licensed copy of the Gnome-Rhône Mistral Major radial engine called the IAR K14-II C32 with 870 HP. It had room for a crew of three under a continuous glazed cockpit, pilot at the front then observer and a gunner at the rear. It had dual controls and was fitted with a locally designed bombsight and a camera. The IAR 37 entered production in 1938, but production of the engine lagged, preventing the aircraft from being completed, and it was replaced on the production line by the IAR 38, powered by the reliable

BMW 132 The BMW 132 was a nine-cylinder radial aircraft engine produced by BMW starting in 1933. Design and development BMW took over a license for manufacturing air-cooled radial engines from Pratt & Whitney on 3 January 1928. The nine-cylinder mode ...

engine. As availability and reliability of the K.14 engine improved, the incomplete IAR 37s were fitted with IAR K.14-III C36 with 930 HP to allow their completion and production was switched to the improved IAR 39, which also used the IAR K.14-IV C32 with 960HP. Total production of all three types was 380, at both IAR and SET, continuing until October 1944 with the majority being IAR 39s.Axworthy 1995, pp. 243-247

Operational history

The aircraft entered service with the

Royal Romanian Air Force The Air Force branch of the Royal Romanian forces in World War II was officially named the (ARR), or the Romanian Royal Aeronautics, though it is more commonly referred to in English histories as the (Royal Romanian Air Force, FARR), or simply ...

in 1938 and, by the end of the 1940, they equipped a large number of squadrons. When Romania supported the German offensive against the Soviet Union 15 of the 18 reconnaissance squadrons were equipped with IAR biplanes. The IAR 39 was used by most of the reconnaissance squadrons involved in the 1941 offensive against the Soviet Union. When the new post-war government was formed in 1947, a smaller number of IAR 39s were used by the new

Romanian Air Force The Romanian Air Force (RoAF) ( ro, Forțele Aeriene Române) is the air force branch of the Romanian Armed Forces. It has an air force headquarters, an operational command, five airbases and an air defense brigade. Reserve forces include one ai ...

for training and liaison.Morosanu 1994, p.211.

Variants

;IAR 37:Initial production. Powered by IAR K14-II C32 - 649 kW (870 hp) engine. 50 built (IAR). ;IAR 38:Powered by 522 kW (700 hp) BMW 132A engine owing to unavailability of K14. Taller tail. 75 built (IAR). ;IAR 39:Revised version of IAR 38 reverting to IAR K.14-III C36 - 690 kW (930 hp) engine. 255 built (95 at IAR and 160 at SET).

Operators

;

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania ( ro, Regatul României) was a constitutional monarchy that existed in Romania from 13 March ( O.S.) / 25 March 1881 with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian ...

; *

Specifications (IAR 39)

References

Bibliography

* Axworthy, Max. "On Three Fronts: Romania's Aircraft Industry During World War Two". ''

Air Enthusiast ''Air Enthusiast'' was a British, bi-monthly, aviation magazine, published by the Key Publishing group. Initially begun in 1974 as ''Air Enthusiast Quarterly'', the magazine was conceived as a historical adjunct to ''Air International'' maga ...

'', No. 56, Winter 1994. pp. 8–27. . * Axworthy, Mark. "Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945". London: Arms and Armour. 1995. * Morosanu, Teodor Liviu. "Romanian Reconnaissance". '' Air International'', April 1994, Vol 46 No 4. pp. 207–211. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Iar 37 1930s Romanian military reconnaissance aircraft 1930s Romanian bomber aircraft World War II Romanian reconnaissance aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1937 37