In 1936, the Yugoslav government asked Croatian engineers Ilic, Sivcec, and Zrnic to design a fighter to the standards of what was then in Western Europe or the United States. The Yugoslavs knew that sooner or later they would face the expansionist ambitions of fascist Italy. The engineer Kosta Sivcec went to France, to Morane-Saulnier and studied the design of their modern hunters, working in particular on the MS-406. Ljubomir Ilic went to the United Kingdom to the Fairey factory and worked on the Fulmar program.
When they returned to Yugoslavia at the end of 1937 they had acquired such an experience that they decided to build a plane at least equal to that of the British and French planes. The Yugoslav Staff wanted the future aircraft to be able to replace the Ikarus IK-2s, considered inferior to the Axis fighters, by 1939.
The three engineers therefore designed the new fighter for the aircraft manufacturer Rogozarski. This one received the designation of IK-3. It came in the form of a single-seat, cantilever, low-wing monoplane powered by a Hispano-Suiza 12Y online engine built locally by Avia. The aircraft had a retractable classic landing gear and a sliding canopy at the cockpit. Its armament was considered powerful, since it is articulated around a 20mm gun pulling through the hub of the propeller. This gun was built in Switzerland by Oerlikon, as for the two machine guns of 7.92mm located in the fuselage, they were manufactured by the American Browning. The IK-3 was constructed of both wood, canvas and metal. He made his first flight in May 1938.
The flight tests rapidly brought to light the progress made by the Yugoslav industry in the field of fighter aircraft, so that in November 1938 the Yugoslav Air Force ordered a batch of twelve serial aircraft. The test program ran smoothly until 19 January 1939 when the prototype crashed during an official demonstration flight. The pilot was killed in this accident.However, the serial construction program was not called into question.
The Rogozarski IK-3 were declared operational in January 1940 and quickly served air defense missions along the Italian-Yugoslav and Austro-Yugoslav frontiers then under the control of Regia Aeronautica and the Luftwaffe. On these occasions, the IK-3 clashed several times with Italian and German fighters. In April 1941, when the Third Reich decided to go on the offensive against Yugoslavia, the twelve IK-3s were on the front line. Only two planes were lost on the Yugoslav side, while the IK-3 shot down eleven German planes: four Junkers Ju-87, four Messerschmitt Bf-110, two Junkers Ju-88, and a Messerschmitt Bf-109. When the German troops entered, the Yugoslav pilots had to burn their fighters, including the IK-3s.
Nowadays, the Rogozarski IK-3 has almost fallen into oblivion, but like Dewoitine D-520 and Fokker D-XXI, it was part of airplanes that managed to slow down the advance of the Blitzkrieg. By its general architecture, it was comparable to Morane-Saulnier MS-406 or Hawker Hurricane.
Specifications :
Wingspan: 10.30 m
Length: 8.00 m
Height: 3.25 m
Motorization: 1 online engine Hispano Suiza 12Ycr
Total power: 1 x 960 hp
Armament: 1 20mm cannon
2 machine guns of 7.92mm
Payload : -
Gross Weight : 2630 kg
Max speed : 525 km / h
Servise ceiling: 9400 m
Max distance : 800 Km (at maximum mass)
Crew: 1
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