| Yak-3 | |
|---|---|
_(25073819848).jpg) Yak-3 in the Vadim Zadorozhny Technical Museum, Krasnogorsk, Russia | |
| General information | |
| Type | Fighter |
| National origin | Soviet Union |
| Designer | A.S. Yakovlev Design Bureau |
| Built by | Plant No.292 (Saratov), Plant No.31 (Tbilisi) |
| Primary users | Soviet Air Forces |
| Number built | 4,848[1] |
| History | |
| Manufactured | March 1944 – August 1946 |
| Introduction date | June 1944 |
| First flight | 28 February 1943 (Yak-1M) |
| Retired | 1952 (Soviet Air Forces) |
| Developed from | Yakovlev Yak-1 |
| Variants | Yakovlev Yak-11 Yakovlev Yak-15 |
The Yakovlev Yak-3 (Russian: Яковлев Як-3) is a single-engine, single-seat World War II Soviet fighter. Robust and easy to maintain, it was much liked by both pilots and ground crew.[2] One of the smallest and lightest combat fighters fielded by any combatant during the war, its high power-to-weight ratio gave it excellent performance and it proved to be a formidable dogfighter.[3]
- ^ Yakubovich 2011, p. 59.
- ^ Glancey 2006, p. 180.
- ^ Yak Piston Fighters, Vector.