It would not be far from wrong to say that in general, eastern Europ in the late 1930s was not quite as technically advanced as western Europe of the time. There were several reasons for this. One was the slowness of transitioning from an agrarian to technical society. Often a lack of available skills and funding were root causes. It was also not uncommon for leadership to be quite ingrained in 'what was' to the extent of stifling progress in this area.

The kingdom of Jugoslavia was one of those fairly new nations that came into being as a result of the end of WWI. It basically had to start from scratch in terms of building a military and the infrastructure, both military and civilian to support it. The road to modernization was rocky, but not impossible. The country did have a an aviation industry, though it was not at the same level of say France and Italy. Indeed, other nations were relied upon for components such as engines and instruments and guns. Even those home produced were built under license.

The nation was not lacking in talented designers as is evident with the product of this book. The IK-3 was the result of a need for a modern fighter and the inability to purchase their needs from overseas. If you think it looks like a Hurricane, you'd be pretty close as the aircraft was constructed in much the same way as the Hawker product. It even used a Hurricane windscreen/canopy after issue were found with the Rogozarski built version used in the initial production planes.

Like all aircraft, there were teething troubles and lack of funding kept the numbers produced low. Aircraft were still coming off the production lines when the Germans invaded and took over the nation. The IK-3 pilots put up a sprited defense, but lack of pilot and airframe protection usually meant that when planes were damaged, they tended to stay that way until the end of what was a short campaign.

Post war, the IK-3 provided the basis of Jugoslavia's post war fighter, the S-49. This aircraft was kept in service until the very late 1950s when the nation received its first jets, after which the type quickly disappeared.

 Typical of this series, the very large book has a full history of the type and its development as well as its use in battle. There are lots of scale planes and profile drawings showing the differences in variants, including a very large fold out in 1/32 scale for those who might want to scratch build one.

The rest of the book is basically artwork. There are color profiles at the end of the book and in between that and the scale drawings are 3D works that show various areas of the aircraft both with and without the exterior framing. All areas of the aircraft both inside and out are provided in these views, a most helpful feature for the detail modeler or those who just like a lot of information. It is the best book on the subject I have yet read and one I have no trouble recommending to you.

Novembetr 2018

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