Ikarus IK2 Yugoslav Fighter Aeroplane

The Ikarus IK-2 was a 1930s high-wing, single-seat, monoplane fighter aircraft of Yugoslav design built for the Royal Yugoslav Army Air Force. A gull-wing design, it was armed with a hub-firing autocannon and fuselage-mounted synchronised machine guns. Just 12 production models were built, as the aircraft was obsolescent at the time it was brought into service in 1935, and only eight were serviceable at the time of the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. After the defeat of Yugoslavia, the remaining four aircraft were taken onto the strength of the air force of the Axis puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia, but none survived the war.

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 7.88 m (25 ft 10 in)
• Wingspan: 11.4 m (37 ft 5 in)
• Height: 3.84 m (12 ft 7 in)
• Wing area: 18 m² (190 sq ft)
• Empty weight: 1,502 kg (3,311 lb)
• Gross weight: 1,857 kg (4,094 lb)
• Fuel capacity: 250 kg (550 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × Hispano-Suiza 12Ycrs liquid-cooled V-12 piston engine, 640 kW (860 shp)
• Propellers: 3-bladed adjustable pitch

Performance

• Maximum speed: 435 km/h (270 mph, 235 kn) at 5,000 m (16,404 ft)
• Cruise speed: 250 km/h (160 mph, 130 kn)
• Range: 700 km (430 mi, 380 nmi)
• Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,000 ft)
• Time to altitude: 5 minutes 25 seconds to 5,000 m (16,000 ft)
• Wing loading: 103 kg/m² (21 lb/sq ft)

Armament

• 1 × 20 mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannon with 60 rounds in a spiral drum
• 2 × 7.92 mm Browning/FN machine guns with 250 rounds per gun

Photographs of scale models of the Ikarus IK-2 can be found here