Yakovlev Yak-3
It was developed and produced under the leadership of the experimental design bureau OKB Yakovlev as the successor to the Yak-1 aircraft. Thanks to its exceptional characteristics, the Soviet fighter required little space when turning in the air and could easily move from fleeing the enemy to the position of attack, behind the enemy aircraft. These possibilities were skillfully used by Soviet pilots and they managed to gain supremacy against German Messerschmitt and Focke-Wulf fighters. It is considered one of the best fighter planes of the Second World War.
The first Yak-3 planes appeared in the Yugoslav Air Force at the end of 1944 and were used on the Syrmian Front. By the end of 1945, another 66 planes of this type were obtained and were mainly used in the 11th Fighter Division, 116th air force, 94th and 254th Fighting Regiments. After the end of the war between the Yugoslav forces and the aircraft of the Western Allies, there were several border incidents in which these planes took part. On August 9, 1946, Yugoslav Yak-3 fighters shot down an American C-47, which entered Yugoslav airspace without permission. Another American C-47 was shot down on August 19, and on October 5, near Prokuplje, a Yugoslav fighter intercepted an English C-47 and
forced it to land at the airport in Niš.
The museum example was produced in 1945 and is one of the few surviving authentic Yak-3 aircraft in the world.
