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 Erhard Milch (30 March 1892 – 25 January 1972) was a German general field marshal ('' Generalfeldmarschall'') of Jewish heritage who oversaw the development of the German air force (''Luftwaffe'') as part of the re-armament of Nazi Germany fo ...

, previously head of

Deutsche Luft Hansa ''Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G.'' (from 1933 styled as ''Deutsche Lufthansa'' and also known as ''Luft Hansa'', ''Lufthansa'', or DLH) was a German airline, serving as flag carrier of the country during the later years of the Weimar Republic and th ...

, was appointed Secretary of State for Air. Relations between Milch and

Willy Messerschmitt Wilhelm Emil "Willy" Messerschmitt (; 26 June 1898 – 15 September 1978) was a German aircraft designer and manufacturer. In 1934, in collaboration with Walter Rethel, he designed the Messerschmitt Bf 109, which became the most important ...

had been bad ever since the cancellation and later re-ordering of the BFW M.20 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 Întreprinderea de Construcții Aeronautice Românești (ICAR, also icar) (Romanian Aeronautical Design Enterprise), was a Romanian aircraft manufacturer. The company produced aircraft of its own design and under license. History Întreprinderea ...

(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 A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

of mixed construction, with a closed cockpit, single engine, and fixed

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...

. 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 The NACA cowling is a type of aerodynamic fairing used to streamline radial engines installed on airplanes. It was developed by Fred Weick of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1927. It was a major advance in aerodynamic ...

., 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 Lares ( , ; archaic , singular ''Lar'') were guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an amalgam of these. Lares ...

on several internal routes including the

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

to Cernauti route.

Operators

; *

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