The Yak 3 was regarded as one of the finest interceptors of WWII and was nicknamed "Dogfighter ; Luftwaffe pilots became accustomed to shooting down poorly equiped, hastily trained Russians. The Yak-3 entered service in 1944, constructed in plywood instead of fabric covering the rear fuselage, mastless radio antenna, reflector gunsight and improved armor and engine cooling. Armed with a single 20 mm ShVAK cannon and one mm UBS machine gun, it was a forgiving, easy-to-handle aircraft loved by both rookie and veteran pilots and ground crew as well. It was robust, easy t
The Yak 3 was regarded as one of the finest interceptors of WWII and was nicknamed "Dogfighter ; Luftwaffe pilots became accustomed to shooting down poorly equiped, hastily trained Russians. The Yak-3 entered service in 1944, constructed in plywood instead of fabric covering the rear fuselage, mastless radio antenna, reflector gunsight and improved armor and engine cooling. Armed with a single 20 mm ShVAK cannon and one mm UBS machine gun, it was a forgiving, easy-to-handle aircraft loved by both rookie and veteran pilots and ground crew as well. It was robust, easy to maintain and was used mostly as a tactical fighter, flying low over battlefields and engaging in dogfights below 13,000 ft. The German pilots were horrified to find they were being bested by a well-flown, simple little 1300hp Russian fighter made of wood. It was found to be so much superior to the Focke-Wulf 190 and the ME-109 that consequently, the Luftwaffe issued an order to all squadrons saying, "avoid combat below ten thousand feet with Yakovlev fighters lacking an oil cooler intake beneath the nose!"
Size: 1911px × 1307px
Photo credit: © ART Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 18-270mm, 3-, aircraft, airshow, dogfighter, dslr-a580, , fighter, ication, photograph, pzd, russian, sony, supreme., takeoff, tamron, vfighters, wanaka, warbirds, ww2, yak, yakovlev
