Stripped of everything not needed for low-altitude combat, the Yak-3 was the smallest and lightest mass-produced fighter of the war, and pilots who flew it, including the Normandie-Niemen French squadron on the Eastern Front, rated it superior to any German fighter below 5,000 metres. Luftwaffe pilots were reportedly ordered to avoid dogfighting Yak-3s at low altitude entirely.
This is the genuine Yak-3 which was previously on display at the Museum of Flying in Santa Monica, CA. It is the machine flown by Hero of the Soviet Union Lt.General Yeremin and was part of the Central Russian AF museum Alan Wilson from Stilton, Peterborough, Cambs, UK · CC BY-SA 2.0 · sourceClassic Fighters 2015 - Yakovlev Yak-3 ZK-YYYOren Rozen · CC BY-SA 3.0 · sourceYak-3U in Zeltweg. "RA-3482K" is a replica of Yak-3UA built in the last few years in Romania by Avione Cariova and has a Pratt & Whitney R-1830 radial engine.Rschider · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source