IAR.80 AND IAR.81, THE: Airframe, Systems and Equipment (Aviation Guide - No Model Content)
This is an excellent book on the subject, its format, styled on the superb Polish and Czech detail books on aircraft, is printed in the UK. Contains many scale drawings of the aircraft throughout its development along with a good selection of photographs and colour scheme drawings. Good descriptive text and useful specifications. A boon to anyone with an interest in the Rumanian IAR 80/81, be they aeromodeller or just interested in the history of that country's best indigenous fighter/attack aircraft, highly recommended, an excellent purchase and a credit to the author! --By G. GreenThrough no fault of the author this book has been a lomg time coming. Was it worth the wait? Oh yes it was. Compared to reference books on more well known and documented aircraft, this book contains far more precise and factual information. And when you consider that the IAR80 and 81 were just about unheard of outside of Romania until a few years ago, then this work by Radu Brinzan is even more remarkable. Much use is made of factory drawings,scale drawings, rare photographs and colour profiles to describe the development of this most capable yet arcane fighter. Any historian or modeller would be proud to own this book which has finally put,what must have been the pride of the Romanian aircraft industry back in the limelight where it deserves to be. A must have book for 2012! --By Mrs. A. OsborneThis 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! --Olga Federkevich