Ikarus IK-2
The Ikarus IK -2 was a single-engine Yugoslav fighter aircraft of the 1930s in high-deck design.
History and construction
The early 1930s dealt Yugoslav aircraft designers who have designed to date, a number of successful school and reconnaissance aircraft, with the idea to design a modern fighter aircraft, which since the dawn marked the culmination of the design capability and technical maturity of aviation industry. This idea also represented two young engineers, Ljubomir Ilić and Kosta Sivčev who returned in 1931 from France, where Ilić finished the College of Aeronautics with flying colors, while Sivčev for years in the design offices and factories of Breguet and Hispano -Suiza collected corresponding experiences. They met in France most modern aircraft know, and after their return to Yugoslavia they entered the service of the Technical Department of the Yugoslav Air Force commands.
They immediately began the project of all-metal monoplane with Puławski - wings, which should replace the already outdated French Dewoitine D.1 and Czechoslovak Avia BH -33. Following successful wind tunnel tests in the wind tunnel in Paris by Gustave Eiffel in 1933, the project led by the Technical Department of the Yugoslav Air Force command was introduced. 1935, the first prototype of the IK -2 was built.
Although the IK -2 showed better flight characteristics and higher speed than the then most modern Yugoslav Hunter Hawker Fury MK.I, it took until October 1938, when the first built by the Icarus works in Novi Sad 12 IK - 2 to the 6th Yugoslav hunting Regiment were delivered near Belgrade. At this time, the IK -2 were already obsolete and no serious opponent against modern fighter aircraft such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109
1939 IK -2 were handed over to the 4th Regiment hunting in Zagreb. With the attack of the Axis powers on Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941, the IK -2 got their first combat mission. With the capitulation of Yugoslavia Yugoslavs destroyed the remaining IK -2, only three captured by the Axis powers IK -2 were delivered to Hitler's puppet state of the Ustasha.
Specifications
Countries
- Croatia 1941 Croatia
Comparable types
- United Kingdom United Kingdom: Gloster Gladiator, Hawker Fury
- France France: Dewoitine D.501, Dewoitine D.510, Loire 46
- Netherlands Netherlands: Fokker D.XVII
- Poland Poland: PZL P.7, PZL P.11, PZL P.24
- Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia: Avia B.534
- Romania Romania: IAR -14
- United States United States: Boeing P -26, Grumman F2F, F3F Grumman
- Soviet Union Soviet Union: Polikarpov I -15 Polikarpov I -153, Polikarpov I-16
- Deutsches Reich Nazi German Reich: Arado Ar 76, Focke- Wulf Fw 56, Heinkel He 51
- Italy Italy: Fiat CR.32, Fiat CR.42
- Japan Japan: Kawasaki Ki -10