Operation “Schiller”

Germany was very interested in the IK-3. In the summer of 1940, Abwehr organized a spy operation to obtain valid information on this plane. Prior to the first test flight of the prototype IK-3, the aircraft manufacturer Rogožarski applied for insurance for the IK-3 plane which was worth about 2.376.638 dinars, which was common in the world at that time. This was a signal to the Abwehr to launch its plan. Abwehr action was to take place through the insurance company “Internationale Versicherung Geschäft” from Vienna, with mixed Austrian-German-Italian capital, offering the best financial terms of insurance. However, the secret service of the Army of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia intervened and determined, in accordance with the legal regulations and with regard to the secrecy and interests of the state that the insurance of the prototype aircraft IK-3 can only be entrusted to a domestic insurance company.

After the secret service of the Army of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia restricted insurance to domestic only insurance companies, the Germans tried to found an “insurance branch” in Yugoslavia under the name “Balkan” in Belgrade.  The German/Balkan insurance company won the competition for the insurance of the IK-3. In order to assess the degree of risk, the insurance company requested detailed IK-3 aircraft calculations and plans according to the instructions of the headquarters of the Abwehr. The Rogožarski Company, with the approval of the General Staff, the Army Air Force Headquarters and in agreement with the constructors, submitted the required technical documentation to the German/Balkan insurance company, which, according to one of the IK-3 aircraft designers, engineer Slobodan Zrnić, was “faked” in the more important details.

Two years after this unsuccessful attempt to obtain the schematics of the IK-3, the Abwehr took concrete steps to get to the desired data on the new IK-3 plane. German agent/officer Vermaht Schiller was supposed to come to this information during the time when the first series of aircraft was to be officially handed over to the Yugoslav Air Force. Schiller was formally deployed as assistant to Colonel Lauman, a German aviation attaché in a German mission in Belgrade. Schiller tried to obtain the schematics of the IK-3 through a Yugoslav Air Force officer. He asked about some technical data for the IK-3 which was soon to be handed over to the 51st Fighter Group in the 6th Fighter Regiment for testing and training of pilots. The Yugoslav secret service learned of this and arranged a meeting of its agents with Schiller. Schiller was arrested and, after signing a police record, he was released and all the papers with him were confiscated.

After the completion of the Yugoslavian counter-intelligence operation, the Chief of the General Staff of the Army, General Petar Kosić, requested to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Schiller and his associates be declared “persona non grata” and they were expelled from Yugoslavia.

Ze zrodel wynika, ze Jugoslowianie mieli problem. Pierwsze zamowienie (12 sztuk) bylo w produkcji i w tym samym czasie testowany aparat mial awarie, pilot zginal. Zaczelo sie dochodzenie ktore zabralo pare miesiecy, rezultatem dochodzenia bylo wprowadzenie kilku poprawek, konkluzja dochodzenia byl wniosek, ze powodem awarii ktorej nota bene bylo zniszczenie samolotu - byl blad w sztuce pilotazu. Wykonano pierwsza serie (12), lotnictwo przejelo to w marcu 40 roku i natychmiast zamowiono nastepne 25 sztuk. Jednoczesnie Jugoslawia zaczela negocjowac z Turcja w sprawie sprzedazy licencji na ten model.
Czego to dowodzi ? Wedlug mnie Jugoslowianie byli po prostu za biedni na to aby rozkrecic produkcje Rogožarski IK-3. Brakowalo im kapitalu i mimo, ze samolot ten byl bardzo obiecujacy i potrzebny, to nie bylo ani forsy ani zaplecza. To przesadzilo, ze tak malo bylo ich w kwietniub 1941 roku.