IAR 80 max speed question...

[Cristian Craciunoiu]

I have Ioan Fotescu, ex. av. cpt., dead in 2001 on tape, filmed when he stated that his IAR reached 563 km/h after an AA projectile explosion under in an almost uncontrolled fall from 5 000 m to 1200 m. his speedmeter blocked and all the paint dissapeared due vibrations. The paint inside the cockpit covered him and outside the aircraft was clear aluminium ! It is a nice story and no metion of it appears in the archieves.

[Victor]

I do not know too much about the Zero and its engine, but the IAR K14 did not increase its performance as the altitude grew over 5000 m. So the speed/altitude connection is important.
If you want to compare the Zero with the IAR-80, compare the speeds a 5000 m, where the speed of the IAR-80 is known.