Editing IAR 80 (section)

==Development==
[[File:IAR-80-production.jpg|thumb|IAR-80 undergoing maintenance]]
In order to ensure that the [[Royal Romanian Air Force]] (''ARR'') could continue to be supplied with aircraft in time of war, the government subsidized the creation of three major aircraft manufacturers in the 1920s and 1930s. The first was [[Societatea Pentru Exploatări Tehnice]] (SET) which was formed in [[Bucharest]] in 1923. Next came [[Industria Aeronautică Română]] (IAR) which set up shop in [[Brașov]] in 1925. Finally there was [[Întreprinderea de Construcții Aeronautice Românești]] (ICAR), which was founded in Bucharest in 1932.

In 1930 the Romanian government issued specifications for a new fighter. Although the government was not anticipating bids from its own aircraft industry, IAR produced several prototypes in response to the tender.

The contract was eventually won by the Polish [[PZL P.11|PZL&nbsp;P.11]]. The ARR purchased 50 of a modified version called the P.11b, all of which were delivered in 1934. A second contest was also fought between the newer [[IAR 14|IAR&nbsp;14]] and [[PZL P.24|PZL&nbsp;P.24]] designs, and once again the PZL design won a contract for another 50 aircraft.

Although IAR's own designs had not entered production, they nevertheless won the contracts to build PZL fighters and [[Gnome-Rhône Mistral Major|Gnome-Rhône&nbsp;14K]] engines under license. As a result of these and other licence contracts the company had enough money to fund a design studio even if its designs never went into production.

Despite losing to PZL, an IAR design team led by [[Ion Grosu]] continued work on fighter designs. He was convinced that the low-wing design of the [[IAR 24|IAR&nbsp;24]] represented a better design than the PZL gull-wing design, which was often referred to as the "[[Gull wing|Polish wing]]". Once again the team studied the new PZL fighter looking to incorporate its best features into a new aircraft, and the result was the IAR&nbsp;80.