I.A.R. CV-111930 |
FIGHTER | Virtual Aircraft Museum / Romania / I.A.R. |
The first original aircraft design produced by the Industria Aeronautica Romana (I.A.R), established in 1925, was the CV-11 single-seat fighter completed and flown, in 1930. Designed by Elie Carafoli and a French engineer, M Virmoux, the CV-11 was of mixed construction and powered by a 600hp 12-cylinder W-type Lorraine 12Fa Courlis engine, armament comprising two 7.7mm Vickers machine guns. After completion of the initial flight test programme, the Lorraine engine was replaced by a 500hp Hispano-Suiza 12Mc 12- cylinder Vee-type engine with which it was tested at Jstres during the first quarter of 1931. It then returned to Romania, where, on 9 December 1931, the CV-11 made an attempt on the 500km closed-circuit speed record. However, an engine failure necessitated a forced landing in which the pilot, Capt Romeo Popescu, was killed. Further development of the basic design by Carafoli led to the I.A.R.12.
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