Jakovlev “Jak-3” - fighter

In February 1943, the construction of the “Jak-1M” fighter was completed, which was the result of further development of the “Jak-1”. It differed from its predecessor in lower weight and had a smaller wing area, resulting in increased flight speed and reduced take-off time. In series production, the aircraft was marked "Jak-3". The first serial fighters were received by 2 regiments of 91 fighters of the Air Army, which in June 1944 took part in the offensive operation in Lviv. It was attended by young pilots, who had not yet taken part in the battles, 430 combat flights, during which 5 group air battles took place. The young pilots coped perfectly with the task - they shot down 23 enemy planes, losing only 2 of their own. The pilots of the French regiment "Normandy - Neman" flew with these fighters and achieved most of their victories. By the way, these fighters were transferred to France, where they formed a significant part of their Air Force after the war. These fighters were still flying in 1956 in the flying schools of the French Air Force.

A well-designed medium-color, “Normandy-Neman” flock-painted model is suitable for almost any modeler, but we recommend, that a novice modeler assemble this model under supervision of more experienced colleague, and this should not be one of the first more complex models.