FR011 PZL P.24 over Danube

History:
The P.24 was an improvement of the well-known Polish PZL P.11 fighter. It was purchased by four nations in the quantities indicated: Romania (5 plus 25 licence-built), Greece (36) who would make the plane famous fighting the 1940 invasion by Italy, Bulgaria (12) and Turkey (40). Interestingly, the Polish Air Force did not order the P.24 despite its export success.


The Romanians, who already operated 50 of the earlier P.11b and built the P.11f under licence, decided to acquire the P.24. PZL supplied five P.24’s in October 1936 for final assembly by IAR in Brasov, along with a licence for them to build 25 additional planes. The use of the K-14 engine in the P.24 led to severe vibration problems. The Romanians finally solved the issue by using a wooden two-bladed airscrew in place of the intended three-bladed metal propeller. They also had to fit a ⅔ reduction gear to the  engine along with a new NACA cowling.  

The  P.24’s entered Romanian  service in early 1940.  At beginning of Operation Barbarossa they protected Bucharest and Ploiesti oil fields from Soviet bombers. Then, from 28 July 1941, the P.24’s progressively moved to the Odessa front providing close support to both German and Romanian troops. They also scored some victories when confronted by Soviet fighters. However the  Soviet aces Grigoriy Rechkalov, Alexandr Pokryshkin and Ivan Kozhedub (Allied top-scoring Ace) also managed to add some P.24s on their tallies during this period. Early 1942 the 23 surviving P.24’s were transferred to training units.

Bulgaria bought 12 PZL P.24B's which entered operational service in 1938. They were fitted with a three-bladed metal propeller (standard for all P.24’s other than the Romanian version).

Specifications: Romanian PZL P.24: length 7,50 m, wingspan 10,71 m, range 750 km, ceiling 10.500 m,  maximum speed 430 km/h.  Weapons: 2 x 7,92 mm Browning FN machine guns, 2 x grenade-throwers IAR-Barbieri with 12 anti-personal grenades.  Engine: one  IAR K-14 II C32 radial  developing   870 Hp (Licence- built Gnome & Rhône).

Note:
- Canopies provided: 1 in clear plastic, 2 in vacu

References:

  • Romanian Fighter Colours 1941-1945
  • Modelist n°3 & 4 (in rumanian)

Thanks to:              Horia Stoica (Modelist)