later repaired at SET in Romania. When the first planes started arriving they were tested competitively against the locally designed IAR.80 prototype. This interesting and little known plane proved to be superior to the 112B in almost every way. At the same time the test flights demonstrated a number of disadvantages of the 112 in general, notably the underpowered engine and poor speed. The result of the fly-off was that the IAR.80 was ordered into immediate production, and orders for any additional He 112s were cancelled. By 15 September enough of the planes had arrived and the Escadrila 10 and 11 were re-equipped with the 112. The two squadrons were formed into the Grupul 5 vânãtoare (5th Fighter Group), responsible for the defense of Bucharest. In October they were renamed as the 51st and 52nd squadrons, still forming the 5th. The pilots had not been a part of the group that had been trained at Heinkel, so they started working their way toward the 112 using Nardi F.N.305 monoplane trainers. Training lasted until the spring of 1940, when a single additional 112B-2 was delivered as a replacement for the one that crashed in Germany the previous September. During the troubles with Hungary the 51st was deployed to Transylvania. Hungarian Ju-86s and He-70s started making reconnaissance flights over Romanian territory. Repeated attempts to intercept them failed because of the 112's low speed. On 27 August Locotenent Nicolae Polizu was over Hungarian territory when he encountered a Caproni Ca.135bis biplane bomber flying on a training mission. Several of his 20 mm rounds hit the bomber, which was forced down safely at the Hungarian Debrecen airbase – home of the Hungarian 112s. Polizu became the first Romanian to shoot down a plane in aerial combat. When Germany prepared to invade the USSR in 1941, Romania joined them in an effort to regain the territories lost the year before. The FARR was made part of Luftflotte 4 and, in preparation for the invasion, Grupul 5 vânãtoare was sent to Moldavia. At the time twenty four of the 112s were flyable. Three were left at their home base at Pipera to complete repairs, two others had been lost to accidents, and the others fate is unknown. On 15 June the planes moved again, to Foscani-North in northern Moldavia. With the opening of the war on the 22nd, the 112s were in the air at 10:50