Ikarus 214
The Ikarus 214 was a military aircraft produced in Yugoslavia in the early 1950s. Originally intended as a light reconnaissance-bomber, it was produced as a trainer and transport aircraft when the testing of the prototype showed it had insufficient performance for the reconnaissance-bomber role. Development A conventional, low-wing cantilever monoplane with twin tail, the Ikarus 214 was designed by Professor constructor Simo Milutinovic, and first flew on 7 August 1949. The aircraft was of wooden construction, twin-engined, with a crew of two to four depending on the mission/role of the aircraft. The main landing gear wheels retracted into the engine nacelles of the two Ranger SVG-770C-B1 inverted V-12 piston engines. Serial production aircraft were powered by 2x Pratt & Whitney R-1340AN-1 radial engines. Unlike production aircraft, the first prototype had fixed landing gear, due to delays in development of the retractable undercarriage. On the first test flight one engine failed, the pilot, Lieutenant Nikola Simic, attempted to return to the airport at Zemun, but the aircraft lost altitude and crashed near the Ikarus factory, killing the pilot. Analysis concluded that the accident was caused by a combination of failure of the propeller feathering mechanism, high drag to the landing gear,