Yak-3 (World Fighter Aircraft Collection)

This is a replica Russian Yak 3 fighter, built by the Romanian company Avioane Craiova in 2005 and owned by William Whiteside of California.   Here it's displaying at the 2009 Chino airshow, but it's also sometimes put through its paces at the Reno Air Races in Nevada.

The Yak 3 was a single seat fighter, but as with many aircraft owned by warbirds enthusiasts, this one has been converted to a two seater so that a passenger can be taken aloft.

This type of aircraft was one of the best fighters of World War Two, and it came as a nasty surprise to the Germans who first encountered it in 1944.   It was superior to the Bf109 and even to the Fw190 at altitudes below about 15000 feet.   A famous Luftwaffe directive from this time told German fighter pilots to "avoid combat below 5000 meters (16250 feet) with Yakovlev fighters lacking an oil cooler under the nose".

The Yak's excellent performance came about from a combination of the Yak's small size and light weight, coupled with a powerful engine and a streamlined body.   However, it was lightly armed with only a single 20mm cannon mounted in the propeller shaft and one 12.7mm gun (later increased to two) firing through the propeller arc.   It also had short range, a tendency for its plywood wings to delaminate and problems with its pneumaticflight controls.