IAR-80 remains found in Crimea

[Victor]

I was contacted several days ago by a Ukrainian diver, who, together with his colleagues has found some remains of an IAR-80 (a 20mm gun, a propeller blade, the shock absorbers) off the coast of Crimea at Chornomorskoe. It appears there are more fragments of a wing left there.

This aircraft is the IAR-80C no. 264, flown by adj av. Aurel Olaru from the 49th FighterSquadron/4th Fighter Group, which was shot down on 4 February 1944 by mistake by the German AAA and fell into the sea near Ak-Mechet (Source: Vanatorul IAR-80, povestea unui erou necunoscut, Dan Antoniu & Geroge Cicos, Modelism, 2000). Ak-Mechet is the Tatar name of Chornomorskoe.

Truly a great discovery!

[Dénes]

It's indeed a great discovery!
How do you know it's No. 264?

[Victor]

Because it is the only IAR-80 that fell into the sea near Ak-Mechet/Chornomorske. In fact, if I am not mistaken, it is the only IAR-80 that fell into the sea off the Crimean coast.

[cipiamon]

great discovery, i bet is plenty to discover, right here in Romania.
We can make searching trips , i am a voluntaire.
I would do tons of investigations if i had a car. :?
Maby in the future i'll colaborate whit C-2 !

[Dénes]

QUOTE

Because it is the only IAR-80 that fell into the sea near Ak-Mechet/Chornomorske. In fact, if I am not mistaken, it is the only IAR-80 that fell into the sea off the Crimean coast.

There could have very well been more than one I.A.R. 80 ditched into the Black Sea in that region.
For example, I have the following entry in my ARR loss list:
1942 Oct. 21 I.A.R. 80+ Gr. ? van. Marea Neagra disparut
Unfortunately, I know no further details.
1943 Oct. 19 (vinator)+ Gr. ? van. Marea Neagra disparut
No a/c type is mentioned.

There is more to be found... :?

[cipiamon]

i heard Gheorghe Chera crushed his IAR 80, in forest, near Bucharest. I know aproximativly the place, but can anybody confirm that?

[Victor]

The two losses are not mentioned by mr. Antoniu and Cicos.
I really doubt that the one lost on 19 October 1942 could be the one found by the Ukrainian divers, simply because the IAR-80s with 20 mm cannons were not in service then. This one could be the one mr. Cicos mentioned to me as lost in 1942 near the Mamaia shooting range at 1.5–2 km from the shore (C-2 had some diver friends and wanted to find aircraft wrecks underwater).
The other one, we do not even know if it was a IAR-80 or a Bf-109E (I do not think that other ARR fighter type was flying over the Black Sea in late 1943). But how big are the chances of two Romanian IAR-80s crashing into the sea near the same port, four months apart? 1 to a million?
I have no doubt that this is no. 264
If they find the engine, then the s/n can confirm this.

[Dénes]

QUOTE

The two losses are not mentioned by mr. Antoniu and Cicos.

The book you're referring to is incomplete (indeed, most historical books are incomplete, including mine). Hopefully the new French edition will be more substantial, with less gaps.

QUOTE

If they find the engine, then the s/n can confirm this.

That's another detail I would very much like to be included in the new IAR 80/81 book, namely the correlation between engine nos. and airframes, including engine changes.
I have several engine numbers with no link to airframes.
Hopefully we'll see the new book soon.

[Dr_V]

Do you know what they've done with the pieces they've recovered? Or if they're planning to rise all the fragments? I hope they preserved them.

Maybe the engine is still in one piece, maybe together with part of the front fuselage. It's the stiffest part of a fighter. The fragments shown are in pretty good shape, it would be possible that the wreck is more complete than it seams.

[cipiamon]

it wold be the greatest thing to recover a IAR 80!!

[Victor]

I received another e-mail from Aleksandr Brishuta (from the Aratta Dive Club, Zaporozhye) stating that the local elders told him the aircraft crashed there early in 1944. So are there any of you that still have doubts?
One interesting thing is though that the elders told him that the pilot jumped out before the crash and was pulled out of the water by the local fishermen still alive.

Dr_V, unfortunately they were not the first at the wreck. Some so-called black archaeologists were. It appears these guys were just looking for scrap metal and attempted to sell the two MGs to a yard and the police confiscated them. This is also how the engine disappeared. Our friends plan to raise everything that is left there even though it is not that much of a challenge for them from the diving aspect (not very deep, close to the shore, low visibility). Do not forget that they do this for fun.

[Cantacuzino]

Victor, I've seen in one of the pictures with pieces from the IAR 80 C you post it, the " Messier" factory nameplate on one of the shock absorbers from the landing gear ( engraved on brass metal ). I work on a nice project of 1/5 R.C. scale model of IAR 81C with functional landing gear. Can you help me and kindly ask Aleksander Brishuta to do a close picture with this nameplate. It will be very nice, to add such rare detail to my model. 8)

[Victor]

Is this good enough?

[Cantacuzino]

Sorry, I can't open the picture ( problem with the server ? ). You can read what is written on this nameplate ? :oops:

[Victor]

QUOTE

Sorry, I can't open the picture ( problem with the server ? ). You can read what is written on this nameplate ? :oops:

Fixed it!