Following the flight of the IAR-811 wooden two-seat training aircraft in 1949, the design team at the Sovromtractortractor factory at Brașov (formerly the Industria Aeronautică Română aircraft works), led by Radu Manicatide, began work on the IAR-813, a more powerful trainer of similar layout. The IAR-813 was, like the IAR-811, a low-winged, single-engine monoplane with side-by-side seating for the crew of two, but differed in being of mixed wood and metal construction compared with the all wooden IAR-811. It had a welded steel tube fuselage structure and a wooden wing, with the structure covered by plywood and fabric. The aircraft was powered by a single 78 kW (105 hp) Walter Minor 4-III air-cooled in-line piston engine. The IAR-813 made its maiden flight on 16 March 1950, and the type was certificated on 1 December that year.[1]
An initial batch of 50 aircraft were built for the Romanian Air Force from 1953, with a further 30 IAR-813s delivered to civil sport flying organisations in 1954–55. The type remained in use with the Air Force until at least 1955. 24 civilian aircraft were transferred to air-ambulance duties in 1961.[2]
