Rogožarski SIM - XIV - H The Rogožarski SIM - XIV - H ( ) was a 1930s Yugoslav coastal reconnaissance floatplane and light bomber , twin - engined , with three crew members . It was designed and built at the Rogožarski factory in Belgrade . Design and development . In January 1937 , the Yugoslav Navy Air Service issued a specification for a twin - engined coastal reconnaissance aircraft , to replace the Ikarus IO flying boat . To meet this requirement , Rogozarski proposed the SIM - XIV - H , a twin - engined floatplane designed by Sima Milutinović , and this type was selected by the Yugoslav navy , with the first prototype making its maiden flight on 8 February 1938 . The SIM - XIV - H was a low winged monoplane of mixed wood and metal construction , with an oval section monocoque fuselage . The wing was braced to the fuselage by steel - tube struts , with the tail also braced . It had a glazed nose , with a gun turret armed with a single machine gun mounted above the nose . The pilot and radio operator / gunner sat in tandem under a long canopy , with the observer also armed with a single machine gun . The rear fuselage was fabric covered , while the moving tail surfaces were metal clad . The elleptical wing was of wooden construction , and was clad in plywood . It was powered by two 240 hp ( 179 kW ) Argus As 10 C air - cooled V8 engines driving fixed two - bladed propellers , also designed by engineer Sima Milutinović . Two Alclad floats made by the EDO Corporation were attached to the engine nacelles and fuselage . Testing of the prototype was successful , with the aircraft demonstrating good handling , and the type was ordered into production . The first batch of six SIM - XIV - H , known as the Series O , differed from the prototype in having the turret removed from the nose and the tail modified . The second batch of six aircraft , the Series 1 , had a cantilever wing , eliminating the bracing between the wing and the fuselage , and had 270 hp ( 201 kW ) Argus As - 10 engines driving metal two - pitch propellers . A third batch of 12 aircraft was ordered in 1940 , with 450 hp ( 336 kW ) Argus As 410 , but construction was interrupted by the German invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941 . Plans for a landplane trainer adaptation of the SIM - XIV - H were also abandoned . Operational history . All the SIM - XIV - H and SIM XIVB - Hs were deployed to the naval bases at Divulje ( near Split ) and Kumbor ( Kotor ) . Before Yugoslavia entered the war , they were used to carry out the duties for which they were designed , with intense training activity due to the approaching threat of war . In that period , three aircraft were destroyed , with 16 aircraft remaining in Service when the Germans invaded Yugoslavia These aircraft were used in the April war in operations against the Germans and Italians along the Adriatic coast , carrying out reconnaissance and aiding mining operations . Five aircraft were destroyed in the fight against the attacking forces . Four aircraft attempted to escape to Greece , of which two were destroyed and two reached British bases in Egypt via Crete . These two aircraft were used for reconnaissance missions over the Mediterranean Sea until one was lost and the other scrapped because of lack of spares . Italy seized a total of eight aircraft , a SIM - XIV - H and 7 SIM - XIVB - Hs . One specimen was immediately transferred to the Test Center at Vigna di Valle , where it showed better results than found in testing in Yugoslavia while the others were transferred to the aeronautical school at Orbetello , continuing in use for training and communications purposes until the end of 1942 . The basic aircraft weapons were against submarine bombs , the plane could carry a 100 kg bomb or two of the 50 kg . For the personnel action against the plane could carry 12 bombs , fragmentation of mass 12 kg . Typically , the aircraft was armed with two machine guns on board an observer placed in the nose and the other aircraft in the rear gunner ' s cockpit . Bombsight was made in Yugoslavia and the bombing of Viro in low flight also Brilet local sights .