Ј-21 "Јаstrеb"
Low-wing fighter-bomber and reconnaissance plane with retractable "tricycle" landing gear and single engine. After the great success of the school fighter plane "Galeb" G-2, during the 60s, a more powerful single-seater plane designed for assault and reconnaissance operations, adapted to the partisan doctrine of warfare, named J-21 "Jastreb" ("The Hawk"), was designed and introduced into the arsenal. The first prototype flew in 1965, while production at the "Soko" factory from Mostar and the introduction into Yugoslav Air Force started at the end of 1968. Jastreb J-21 was the second jet and the first combat aircraft to be serially produced in Yugoslavia.
During the 70s the "Hawks" in the fighter-bomber and reconnaissance squadrons gradually replaced worn-out aircraft of Western origin, such as the Thunderjet, RT-33 and TV-2. They could take off from landscaped grass runways, while the weakness was relatively low payload and impact power. The aircraft is equipped with small arms in the fuselage and unguided bombs and rockets on the underwing mounts. It could also be used in missions against light aircraft such as helicopters and piston planes. In the almost one decade that production lasted at the "Soko" factory, over 200 "Hawks" were made. The first version of Jastreb 1, under the official military designation J-21, was purely attack. It was followed by Jastreb 2 (IJ-21), which was a reconnaissance aircraft with three aerial photo cameras, and finally the two-seater NJ-21 trainer. The Hawk (under designation J-1L), the same as the "Galeb", was exported to Libya and Zambia.
The Jastreb showed itself well in exploitation because the pilots were trained in a short time for assault operations in all weather conditions, especially the tactics of operations from low altitudes were developed. Due to their good flight characteristics, the IJ-21 type aircrafts were selected in 1985 as the first aircrafts of the "Flying stars" aerobatic group, with which this group performed for the next several years. Hawks were used on almost all battlefields during the civil war in the former Yugoslavia.
Jastreb was in units of the Yugoslav Air Force until 1996, when part of the fleet was handed over to the Aeronautical Museum. At the beginning of the 21st century, they were kept in operational use by the Air Forces of the Republic of Srpska and Libya. "The Hawk" displayed on the pedestal in front of the main entrance to the Museum building (reg.no. 24115, fab.no. 017) was produced on July 4, 1970.
