A short introduction to Aero-3

Our workshop has a new roof. Now we have to tidy up a milion small details and this will take some time. So nothing new to report on the Aero, but I was thinking that this might be a good time to explain what exactly is an Utva Aero-3.

Utva Aero-3 in flight.

Utva Aero-3 is a primary trainer that was built in 1959 in Yugoslavia. As you might had noticed in the previous posts it is made of wood, but is powered by a Lycoming O-435 engine, which was pretty standard for that age.

This trainer was built primarily to serve in the Yugoslav Air Force Academy during the sixties, when the country was receiving a huge number of aircraft through the MDAP scheme. This needed a steady influx of novice pilots. Therefore the Academy devised a three year training programme. First years was basic training on the Aero-3, second year advanced flying on Soko 522 (picture is an older post), and third year operational training.

Most Aero-3 trainers wore trainer yellow paint scheme, but these two are camuflaged.

Now as I've written in a lot of previous posts, the aircraft is just a vehicle for people to communicate. Now, let us talk more about the people that flew Aeros.
This picture is from the personal archive of Mirko Anžel of Trbovlje. It was taken in 1965 during his training in the academy. Since he was the number one of his class, he opted for fast jets and therefore flew 10 hours of TV-2 (version of Lockheed T-33) and then solo on the F-86 Sabre.

Mirko Anžel before flying the TV-2.

Mirko always recals that this was amazing. His generation had almost no time on Soko 522, since they had a fleet problem of cracked propellors at that time. Therefore they flew about 120 hours on the Aero-3, a few hours on the Soko 522, 10 hours on the TV-2 and then soloed the Sabre.

Mirko Anžel, left. Notice that the Sabre is one formerly used by the 204.lap aerobatic team.

This image shows him in front on the F-86, with his instructor in the center. Mirko then went on to MiG-21s and graduated from EPNER at Istres, France as a full course graduate. Even now, he recalls that his greatest profesional achievment is the Sabre solo. Everything that came later, like the MiG-21, Mirage III or the Caravelle, was not that much of a jump then it was from the Aero-3 to the cockpit of the Sabre. Mirko is a constant source of knowledge and advice. If we were not restoring the Aero, we would not had met him.

Vojko Gantar in front of Lockheed TV-2, right.

The image above shows a very young Vojko Gantar from Idrija. Vojko was one of the top Yugoslavian Air Force fighter pilots. At age 23 he was assistant squadron CO on Sabre D fighters and then spent 22 years flying the supersonic MiG-21. He went through the same process Aero-3-Soko 522-TV-2-Sabre during his academy years. His last years before the breakup of Yugoslavia was in command of the MiG-21 training squadron at Pula, now Croatia. Again Vojko is one of the very best teachers and menthors you can imagine.
Perfectionist by nature, open minded and extremly willing to help out, I think he might be one of the most valuable forgoten pilots that we have right now.

So again, the aircraft does not matter. Sure, it is a nice aircraft that can teach tailwheel, basic aerobatics and actually has some post-stall flying characteristics (which is totally untrue for aircraft built under JAR/FAR-23, which just do not stall...), and with a supported Lycoming engine to boot, but it is the people that matter. What matters is that Vojko totally secluded from flying, worked as a mountain sheppard, but now he is back again lecturing on hand flown IFR and supersonic flying.

This is why we restore aircraft.

Till next time. Have fun, go beyond your ego, seek advice, talk to people, respect your elders.