Anyone from Bucharest, Romania? The modelers of IAR-80 need some help with IAR gunsight.

[Jaws2002]

VikS posted a thread in the Developer Assistance subforum, asking for some details about IAR-80/81. 

 

That part of the forum is not visited so often and I'll post this here for some extra exposure. 

 

The National military museum in Bucharest has in display, a IAR-80 gunsight, made by I.O.R.

Is anyone able to take a trip to the museum and take some photos of the sight, please? 

I'm in Canada. Too far away.

 

The sight should be somewhere around the IAR-80 Mockup. 

Here are a few pictures of the sight, but are from a book and the resolution is too low.

 

 

There were two collimated gunsights used in the IAR-80/81. One was imported from Austria and was made by Goertz and the other one was license made in Romania at I.O.R.

 They need photos of the sight made by I.O.R. that is posted in the photo above.

It's called colimator  I.O.R Telereflex.

The museum may also have a sample of the Goertz sight. This photo is of a Goertz sight (easy to identify due to the two side triangular wings supporting the lens):

 

 

 

 

They need photos of the other one.

 

 

 

Edited July 5, 2022 by Jaws2002

[Avimimus]

Failing that - if you have the money and the time - it could make an interesting excuse for an impromptu holiday ?

[Jaws2002]

16 minutes ago, Avimimus said:

Failing that - if you have the money and the time - it could make an interesting excuse for an impromptu holiday ?

 

 

Absolutely. They have quite a few interesting things in that museum. I went there a few times in the late eighties and early nineties. Spent many hours looking at planes, Panzers, machineguns, heavy guns.

 

But it is too far for me. 

Edited July 5, 2022 by Jaws2002

[Avimimus]

I suspect I'm even worse off at 7400 kilometres! Ah, to be rich and eccentric eh? If only.

[Jaws2002]

I'm just a bit over 8000Km. 

[migmadmarine]

Has anyone reached out to the museum yet, see if they have photos or could take some?

[Jaws2002]

I emailed the museum few times last year, but they never bother to answer to emails.

That old entitled government employee syndrome is still alive back there.  

[blockheadgreen_]

It's an RAF GM2 sight with a new sight head and dimmer sheet, no?

[ShamrockOneFive]

I've just spread the word.

[Jaws2002]

45 minutes ago, Lythronax said:

It's an RAF GM2 sight with a new sight head and dimmer sheet, no?

Yes. The Austrian, Goertz sight was actually made for British contract, but once the war started, they were sold to central powers.

 The Romanian one is just a license version with very small changes.

Edited July 6, 2022 by Jaws2002

[Feldgrun]

Maybe the Romanian master skin designer Szelljr can help.

Edited July 8, 2022 by Feldgrun

[Avimimus]

On 7/5/2022 at 6:18 PM, Jaws2002 said:

I emailed the museum few times last year, but they never bother to answer to emails.

That old entitled government employee syndrome is still alive back there.  

 

Or maybe just underfunded and overworked? That said, a lot of the museums here are pretty responsive in spite of being underfunded and overworked. Sometimes it is hard to get the right inbox, that might also be it!

[AndreiTomescu]

Reporting from romania! Sorry for the late answer. just now saw the post. i'm dreaming about having this plane again (flew with it alot in 1946)

So: i'll take my kids and go to the museum asap but probably this weekend only. Can't do it sooner.

Are you sure the item is at the national war museum and not the national aviation museum? Both are in Bucharest, so we can hit them both, if necessary.

At the national aviation museum there is a IAR 80 replica but i don't know if the interior is made, because you're not allowed to get very close. If necessary, we'll try to get around somehow :))))

My older kid (11) and myself would be very proud to contribute as much as possible into bringing this plane virtually alive.

So, we'll photo everything we'll find.

Edited July 13, 2022 by AndreiTomescu
misspelling

[Jaws2002]

Awesome news Andrei!!! 

 

This particular gunsight is not in the aircraft, but it's a stand alone unit. This image, from Radu Branzan's book is saying the gunsight is in the aviation collection of the Military Museum in Bucharest. Now this book was written about ten years ago, so things may be different now. 

 

 

 

This is the sight they need photos of.

 

I don't think there was a separate Aviation museum back then. All the IAR-80 stuff was posted in the military museum, on Mircea Vulcanescu Street. 

 I see that a bunch of the aircraft were moved to the Aviation museum on Glucoza street, but there's still an aviation collection at the Military Museum. 

 

The Aviation Museum, by the airport, shows closed on Google maps and on their website, so I think you can only visit the Military museum.  That's where this IOR gunsight was.

  IF you find it, take photos of the writing, Markings and details.

 

Thank you for your help!! 

Edited July 13, 2022 by Jaws2002

[AndreiTomescu]

Roger. News flash :)) :

I am a regular visitor (with the kids) of both museums once /year like, so here it is:

 

-The national war museum (on the ill-but-red famed Vulcanescu str ;)) is opened only in the interior, and only partly. Both the wonderful exterior (with my favorite FT 18 tank from ww1) with all the aircraft pavilion INCLUDED are closed till december 2022, when a grand reopening should take place, to celebrate 100 yrs from the museum's foundry.

So, i will search the wanted item inside (the aviation pavilion is closed), because as far as i remember the ww2 section is/was open. They are doing very often "disinfection closures", not announced on the website, just some bullshit to stay at home 3 days more.

After the reopening all the museum should be at top notch standards. Hope(spray) and pray....

If we do not find the gunsight there, we're going to hit the road at the aviation museum, on Glucozei str, where it was MOVED from near the airport about 10 yrs ago. This one is the only one left in Bucharest, BUT!! it's renovated (cheap but ok) has a lot of great stuff exposed (a Sturmovik and a V2 rocket included!) and it's great for the laaarge garden. There i went rather recently (like 4 month ago) and i do not remember a separate gunsight being exhibited. But it's worth a try.

If still no luck, I'll ask insistently for a contact of mr Sorin Turturica, he is curator there, a great (best imho) historian and writer about romanian aviation and....about 40+yrs old, so that makes me hope that he'll be willing to help.

So! that's the order of battle. Keep you posted with any news, good or bad.

It would be awesome for the old IAR to live again.....even if only in our virtual dreams!

Edited July 13, 2022 by AndreiTomescu
misspelling

[duko]

Great mate, if u can't make it for some reason let us know, i'm not from Bucharest but i can make the trip, would be better and faster if u do it though ?

[AndreiTomescu]

This is Bandit 5 reporting from photo recce mission.

I have some good news, and some bad ones, butthere is hope still.

1. The aviation museum is CLOSED for undefinite time, for restoration, despite that it was recently restorated.

so that's a dead bird for now.

2. The national war history museum has it's tiny aviation pavilion OPEN, there is a IAR replica there and some bits of a crashed IAR. Took pictures. The gunsight is missing, not exposed separately , not mounted on the aircraft, not even a replica. Found an original bomber sight there, took pictures, maybe might help sometime. Took pictures of the IAR details, maybe might help. Especially with the real pieces, with kid finger nearby, to show real with of the material.

Where / how do i upload the taken pictures?

But!!! there is a but....

We spoke with an old technical curator there (tehnician restaurator) who knew exactly what we were looking for. He said that that particular romanian made gunsight found some yrs ago at the museum is probably "lost" in some deposit. There is nowhere to be found in the museum.

But! He directed us to try the Technical Museum (in Carol park). He thinks that there is a chance that it might be a IAR romanian made gunsight there. We'll go tommorow to search for it.

[ShamrockOneFive]

That's some solid investigation even if it didn't reveal the gunsight yet! Well done! Well done indeed!

[Ghost666]

Yes, very well done! 

[AndreiTomescu]

Bandit 5 reporting from second foto recce mission.

Went today to the Technical Museum. Found some items, presented below. hope there aren't too many pictures to get a ban.

The IOR made gunsight of the IAR 80 was not there. At least not exposed. BUT!

BUT....

We STILL got a chanse. We spoke to a nice lady working there. She said that the item might be in the museum's warehouse, and she took pictures of the gunsight's image from my phone (showed her the pictures posted here on the forum). She promised she'll look for it, and also gave me the mail contact of the museum's director. (pm me for the email, I removed it for anti spam resons )

I'll do my best to find this bloody gunsight, promise.

 

Edited July 17, 2022 by AndreiTomescu
removed tech museum personal email, pm me for it

[AEthelraedUnraed]

44 minutes ago, AndreiTomescu said:

Bandit 5 reporting from second foto recce mission.

Went today to the Technical Museum. Found some items, presented below. hope there aren't too many pictures to get a ban.

The IOR made gunsight of the IAR 80 was not there. At least not exposed. BUT!

BUT....

We STILL got a chanse. We spoke to a nice lady working there. She said that the item might be in the museum's warehouse, and she took pictures of the gunsight's image from my phone (showed her the pictures posted here on the forum). She promised she'll look for it, and also gave me the mail contact of the museum's director.

That's some really very nice pics, I'm sure the Devs can put them to good use. Thanks!

 

However, I'd like to suggest to remove the e-mail address of the museum director from your post. There's lots of spam bots around, so any e-mail address "out in the open" like that will result in her receiving tons of spam and/or phishing e-mails. Unfortunately, there's many bad people and criminals in the digital world

 

PMs are safe though, so you can replace it with a suggestion for the Devs to PM you for the address if they need it

[AndreiTomescu]

I removed the email. Sorry, I didn't realized that. I'm so old school.....? From the MIRC era, you see....?

I will email that lady with an hearted email, hoping she will help us.

I also took several pictures (close-ups) of that original IAR engine. If they are needed, I can upload them.

Edited July 17, 2022 by AndreiTomescu
text added

[SCG_Kitzrat]

Sorry If posted already,

This is the website of the Replica Project, maybe they have more info.

http://www.iar80.org/evolutie-proiect/

[Jaws2002]

25 minutes ago, SCG_Kitzrat said:

Sorry If posted already,

This is the website of the Replica Project, maybe they have more info.

http://www.iar80.org/evolutie-proiect/

 

Tried them long time ago. They didn't even answer the email.

[Blitzen]

I have nothing to add , except to say this is a very interesting detective story thread! Makes me think maybe I should buy the aircraft after all....

[Jaws2002]

You know you want it.

[Blitzen]

52 minutes ago, Jaws2002 said:

You know you want it.

Yes  I guess I do...but the real question is will I ever use it? Would love to catch up to a few B-24's over Ploesti, but chances are slight for that in the near future...

 

[Avimimus]

On 8/23/2022 at 11:43 PM, Blitzen said:

I have nothing to add , except to say this is a very interesting detective story thread! Makes me think maybe I should buy the aircraft after all....

 

You should! If the bright colour scheme doesn't get you, then the fact that the gunsight looks like a monocle should!

[SCG_Kitzrat]

Also this site, if it was omitted. Again sorry if information was known.

http://www.cartula.ro/forum/topic/243-iar80-81-walkaround