(Yakovlev) Yak-1 @·AIRCRAFTUBE

  • Yakovlev Yak-1 Yakovlev Yak-1
    Yakovlev Yak-1
  • The I-26 prototype The I-26 prototype
    The I-26 prototype
  • Eastern Front (1941) Eastern Front (1941)
    Eastern Front (1941)
  • 20th IAP "White 27" captured (Bryansk front, 1941) 20th IAP "White 27" captured (Bryansk front, 1941)
    20th IAP "White 27" captured (Bryansk front, 1941)
  • 27th GvIAP "Red 23" flown by<br>Capt. G.N. Zhidov (1941-42) 27th GvIAP "Red 23" flown by<br>Capt. G.N. Zhidov (1941-42)
    27th GvIAP "Red 23" flown by
    Capt. G.N. Zhidov (1941-42)
  • Refuelling Refuelling
    Refuelling
  • Yak-1 in winter Yak-1 in winter
    Yak-1 in winter
  • Yak-1 on skis Yak-1 on skis
    Yak-1 on skis
  • 20th IAP "White 27" flown by<br>Snr Lt E.V. Petrenko (Vaenga, summer 1942) 20th IAP "White 27" flown by<br>Snr Lt E.V. Petrenko (Vaenga, summer 1942)
    20th IAP "White 27" flown by
    Snr Lt E.V. Petrenko (Vaenga, summer 1942)
  • "White 9" of Sgt V.I. Tkachyov damaged in combat<br>(21st IAP, Baltic Fleet, 11 September 1942) "White 9" of Sgt V.I. Tkachyov damaged in combat<br>(21st IAP, Baltic Fleet, 11 September 1942)
    "White 9" of Sgt V.I. Tkachyov damaged in combat
    (21st IAP, Baltic Fleet, 11 September 1942)
  • 149th GvIAP, Stalingrad front (1942) 149th GvIAP, Stalingrad front (1942)
    149th GvIAP, Stalingrad front (1942)
  • Mikhail Baranov (183rd IAP, Stalingrad, 1942) Mikhail Baranov (183rd IAP, Stalingrad, 1942)
    Mikhail Baranov (183rd IAP, Stalingrad, 1942)
  • Lydia Litvyak, Ekaterina Budanova and Maria Kuznetsova (586th IAP) Lydia Litvyak, Ekaterina Budanova and Maria Kuznetsova (586th IAP)
    Lydia Litvyak, Ekaterina Budanova and Maria Kuznetsova (586th IAP)
  • The Yak-1B prototype (1942) The Yak-1B prototype (1942)
    The Yak-1B prototype (1942)
  • Yak-1B Yak-1B
    Yak-1B
  • Yak-1B donated by collective farmers, with commander M.A. Ivanov<br>(55th GvIAP, Stalingrad, 1942) Yak-1B donated by collective farmers, with commander M.A. Ivanov<br>(55th GvIAP, Stalingrad, 1942)
    Yak-1B donated by collective farmers, with commander M.A. Ivanov
    (55th GvIAP, Stalingrad, 1942)
  • 6th GvIAP, Black Sea Fleet (Khersones, March 1943) 6th GvIAP, Black Sea Fleet (Khersones, March 1943)
    6th GvIAP, Black Sea Fleet (Khersones, March 1943)
  • Yak-1B with eagle emblem (156th GvIAP, Oryol, 14 August 1943) Yak-1B with eagle emblem (156th GvIAP, Oryol, 14 August 1943)
    Yak-1B with eagle emblem (156th GvIAP, Oryol, 14 August 1943)
  • 3rd GvIAP Yak-1B (Lavensaari, summer 1943) 3rd GvIAP Yak-1B (Lavensaari, summer 1943)
    3rd GvIAP Yak-1B (Lavensaari, summer 1943)
  • First Yak-1M "Moskit" (Mosquito) prototype First Yak-1M "Moskit" (Mosquito) prototype
    First Yak-1M "Moskit" (Mosquito) prototype
  • 117th GvIAP Yak-1B "White 70" (Ukrainian Front, 1944) 117th GvIAP Yak-1B "White 70" (Ukrainian Front, 1944)
    117th GvIAP Yak-1B "White 70" (Ukrainian Front, 1944)
  • Sergei Lugansky and his Yak-1B "White 58"<br>(152nd GvIAP, July 1944) Sergei Lugansky and his Yak-1B "White 58"<br>(152nd GvIAP, July 1944)
    Sergei Lugansky and his Yak-1B "White 58"
    (152nd GvIAP, July 1944)
  • "22 white", recovered in 2012 near Murmansk<br>(Vadim Zadorozhny museum) "22 white", recovered in 2012 near Murmansk<br>(Vadim Zadorozhny museum)
    "22 white", recovered in 2012 near Murmansk
    (Vadim Zadorozhny museum)
  • The Klimov M-105 engine The Klimov M-105 engine
    The Klimov M-105 engine

Yakovlev Yak-1

The Yakovlev Yak-1 (Russian: Як-1) was a Soviet fighter aircraft of the Second World War. A single-seat, low-wing monoplane of mixed construction (welded steel-tube fuselage and wooden wings), it was the first combat aircraft designed by the bureau of Alexander Yakovlev, until then known mainly for light sport aircraft. Developed from the I-26 prototype, which first flew on 13 January 1940, it entered production in 1940 and remained in production until July 1944, with about 8,700 built.

Manoeuvrable, simple to build and easy to maintain, the Yak-1 was the founder of a whole family of fighters: the Yak-7, Yak-9 and Yak-3 are direct descendants, and if they are counted as a single type, the 37,000 or so Yak piston fighters built make it the most produced fighter family in history. For his design, Yakovlev received the Order of Lenin, a prize of 100,000 roubles and a ZIS motor car.

Design and development

The I-26 prototypes

Yakovlev's Yak-4 light bomber had impressed the Soviet government enough for it to order a new fighter from his bureau, built around the new Klimov M-106 liquid-cooled V-12 engine. The official specifications, issued on 29 July 1939, called for two prototypes. The first, I-26-1, was to reach 620 km/h at 6,000 m, have a combat range of 600 km, climb to 10,000 m in less than 11 minutes and carry two 7.62 mm ShKAS machine guns and one 12.7 mm Berezin BS. The second, I-26-2, was to receive a turbocharged M-106, reach 650 km/h at 10,000 m and carry two ShKAS. As the M-106 was late, the design was switched to the Klimov M-105P, with a 20 mm ShVAK cannon mounted in the vee of the engine and firing through the propeller hub (the so-called motornaya pushka installation).

Painted bright red and carefully polished, the first prototype was nicknamed Krasavets ("Beauty") by the design team. Fitted with skis, I-26-1 made its maiden flight on 13 January 1940 in the hands of Yakovlev's test pilot and long-time associate Yulian Piontkovsky. It suffered from oil overheating that was never completely cured, causing 15 emergency landings during the early tests. On 27 April 1940, during its 43rd flight, I-26-1 crashed in Moscow, killing Piontkovsky. The investigation concluded that he had performed two consecutive barrel rolls at low altitude, in breach of the flight plan; the main landing gear had probably unlocked during the first roll and broke through the wing during the second. It has been suggested that the pilot was frustrated that his aircraft was used for engine testing while I-26-2 was already flying aerobatics.

I-26-2, which differed in many details (larger oil cooler intake, redesigned tail, fixed tailwheel), was built from sub-assemblies supplied by different factories and ended up 400 kg heavier than planned, which limited the airframe to 4.4 g; oil overheating also persisted. It failed its state trials in 1940, but fortunately for Yakovlev its rivals, the I-200 (future MiG-3) and the I-301 (future LaGG-3), failed theirs too. The third prototype, I-26-3, delivered on 13 October 1940, passed its tests on 9 December 1940, although it was still unfinished and its engine problems remained unresolved.

Production

To shorten the delay between prototype and production, the I-26 had been ordered into series production on 19 February 1940, barely a month after the first flight, and it was officially named "Yak-1" at the end of 1940. Although slower than the I-200 and less heavily armed than the I-301, it kept a consistent lead in testing and development thanks to its earlier start, and Yakovlev may have benefited from Stalin's personal favour. The outbreak of war in June 1941 then made the development of more promising designs, such as the Polikarpov I-185, impossible. Only 64 aircraft had been delivered by the end of 1940; the type was first shown in public on 7 November 1940, when five of them flew over Red Square, without being identified.

Manufacturing and testing a design that still needed so many improvements at the same time caused major disruption: almost 8,000 changes were made to the drawings by 1941, then thousands more in the following years. Shortages of engines, propellers, radiators, wheels and cannon slowed production, and the lack of quality materials even led to plywood being deleted from the wings of some aircraft. Factory No. 292 at Saratov, the main Yak-1 manufacturer, was bombed and burnt down on 23 June 1941, but production resumed among the ruins on 29 June. Manufacturing tolerances were so loose that each aircraft was practically unique: main landing gear legs could differ in length and angle, and parts were often not interchangeable. Production ended in July 1944 after some 8,700 aircraft.

Operational history

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, 425 Yak-1s had been built, although many were still in transit or incomplete. Only 92 were fully operational in the western military districts, and most of them were lost during the first days of the war.

The Yak-1 was used mainly as an escort fighter for the Il-2 ground-attack aircraft, so most air combat took place below 4,000 m, where it performed best. Among the new Soviet fighters it was the best compromise: the MiG-3 had the best high-altitude performance but was poor at low and medium altitude and too lightly armed for ground attack, while the LaGG-3 could lose up to 100 km/h compared with its prototypes because its wooden structure warped and rotted. The plywood skin of the Yak-1 also suffered from the weather, but its steel-tube frame kept the aircraft largely intact.

The early Yak-1s suffered from many defects: fuel leaks, spot-welded fuel tanks that failed under vibration, a canopy that could not always be opened (some pilots removed its sliding part), and no radio on the first 1,000 aircraft. Radios became common in spring 1942 and mandatory in August 1942, but they were often removed to save weight, as Soviet sets were unreliable and short-ranged. The M-105 engine did not tolerate negative g, which starved it of fuel, and suffered from magneto and speed governor failures and oil leaks from the reduction gear shaft. The light tail also made the aircraft prone to nosing over, and mechanics often had to sit on the tail during ground runs, which led to accidents when aircraft took off with a mechanic still on the rear fuselage.

Compared with its main opponent, the Bf 109F, the Yak-1 was outclimbed at all altitudes, although it was better than the Bf 109E. Both aircraft could complete a full turn in about the same time (20 to 21 seconds at 1,000 m), but the automatic slats of the Messerschmitt gave it a lower stall speed and better stability in tight turns and vertical manoeuvres. In a mock combat between a Yak-1 with the M-105PF and a Bf 109F, the German fighter was only slightly more manoeuvrable at 1,000 m but could gain a clear advantage after four or five turns; at 3,000 m the two were almost equal, and above 5,000 m the Yak was the more manoeuvrable.

By Western standards the armament of the Yak-1 was light, but it was typical of Soviet practice, as pilots preferred a few weapons grouped in the nose for accuracy and low weight. Wing guns were rarely used on Soviet fighters and were often removed when fitted, as was done on the American P-39 Airacobras. On the front line, and on about thirty production aircraft, the ShKAS machine guns were removed, leaving only the ShVAK cannon; experienced pilots liked the lighter aircraft, and combat in November 1942 showed a much better victory-to-loss ratio. In autumn 1942 the Yak-1B appeared, with a single 12.7 mm UBS heavy machine gun replacing the two ShKAS: total firepower barely increased, but the UBS was far more effective. The poor-quality PBP reflector sight was also replaced by a simple VV ring sight. Pilot Nikolai Golodnikov considered that, in experienced hands, the Yak-1B could fight the Bf 109F-4 and G-2 on equal terms.

Many Soviet aces flew the Yak-1. Mikhail Baranov scored all of his 24 victories on the type, including five on 6 August 1942 (four Bf 109s and a Ju 87). The all-female 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, formed by Marina Raskova, was equipped with the Yak-1 and received 24 Yak-1Ms; its pilots included Ekaterina "Katya" Budanova (5 victories) and Lydia Litvyak (between 5 and 12 victories, plus two shared). Later posted to the 296th (then 73rd Guards) Fighter Aviation Regiment, Litvyak flew the Yak-1 "Yellow 44" and was killed in action on 1 August 1943.

When the Free French Normandie fighter group (later Normandie-Niemen) was formed in the Soviet Union in March 1943, its pilots chose the Yak-1M, with its cut-down rear fuselage giving all-round visibility. The Yak-1 was also the first type flown by the Polish 1st Fighter Regiment "Warszawa", and the Yugoslav air force used 103 of them from 1944 to 1950. From 1941 to 1945, the Soviet air force lost 3,336 Yak-1s (325 in 1941, 1,301 in 1942, 1,056 in 1943, 575 in 1944 and 79 in 1945), the highest losses of any fighter type in Soviet service.

Variants

  • I-26 (Ya-26) : Prototypes of mixed steel-tube and wood construction. I-26-1 first flew on 13 January 1940; I-26-2 was to receive a turbocharged M-106 but was completed with the M-105P; I-26-3 was the definitive prototype.
  • UTI-26 : The third and fourth I-26s completed as two-seat dual-control trainers; produced as the Yak-7UTI, whose fighter version became the Yak-7.
  • I-28 (Yak-5) : High-altitude interceptor prototype with the M-105PD engine, all-metal fuselage and tail, leading-edge slats and slightly smaller wings. One built, first flown on 1 December 1940. It was not produced, but served as the basis for the high-altitude versions of the Yak-7 and Yak-9.
  • I-30 (first Yak-3) : Development of the I-26 with all-metal wings and leading-edge slats. Two prototypes: I-30-1 with three 20 mm ShVAK cannon and two ShKAS, I-30-2 with two additional ShKAS. Not produced; the name Yak-3 was later reused for a different fighter.
  • Yak-1 : Initial single-seat production version, armed with one 20 mm ShVAK cannon and two 7.62 mm ShKAS machine guns.
  • Yak-1B : Unofficial designation ("b") of the improved version, standard for all Yak-1s built after October 1942: cut-down rear fuselage with bubble canopy, increased armour, one 12.7 mm UBS replacing the ShKAS, electro-pneumatic firing, control stick inspired by the Bf 109, new gunsight, retractable tailwheel, improved cooling and M-105PF engine. First flight in June 1942 (aircraft No. 3560), production from August 1942; 4,188 built.
  • Yak-1M "Moskit" : Lightened prototype of the future Yak-3, with a smaller wing, revised cooling intakes and uprated engine. Two built.
  • Other versions : Prototypes with Klimov VK-106 and VK-107 engines, production aircraft able to carry drop tanks, or six RS-82 rockets or two 100 kg bombs, ski-equipped winter aircraft and lightened air defence (PVO) versions.

Operators

  • Soviet Union : Soviet Air Force (VVS) and Air Defence Forces (PVO), Soviet Naval Aviation (Baltic, Northern and Black Sea Fleets).
  • France : Free French Air Force, Normandie (later Normandie-Niemen) fighter group.
  • Poland : 1st Fighter Regiment "Warszawa" (1 Pułk Lotnictwa Myśliwskiego "Warszawa").
  • Yugoslavia : Yugoslav Air Force, 103 aircraft from 1944 to 1950 (111th, 112th and 113th Fighter Aviation Regiments, 2nd and 104th Training Aviation Regiments, 101st Fighter-Training Aviation Regiment).

Surviving aircraft

Only one complete original Yak-1 is known to survive: "22 white", recovered in 2012 in the Murmansk area, is displayed in partially restored condition at the Vadim Zadorozhny Technical Museum in Arkhangelskoye, near Moscow. Another Yak-1 (No. 1342) is being restored to airworthy condition by a private owner in the United Kingdom, with its original engine.

Bibliography

  • Bock, Robert and Wojtek Matusiak. Yak-1, Yak-3. Gdansk : AJ-Press, 1998.
  • Drabkin, Artem. The Red Air Force at War: Barbarossa and the Retreat to Moscow. Barnsley : Pen & Sword Military, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84415-563-7.
  • Gordon, Yefim and Dmitri Khazanov. Soviet Combat Aircraft of the Second World War, Volume One: Single-Engined Fighters. Earl Shilton : Midland Publishing, 1998. ISBN 978-1-85780-083-8.
  • Gordon, Yefim. Soviet Air Power in World War 2. Hinckley : Midland Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-1-85780-304-4.
  • Gordon, Yefim, Dmitry Komissarov and Sergey Komissarov. OKB Yakovlev: A History of the Design Bureau and its Aircraft. Hinckley : Midland Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1-85780-203-9.
  • Gunston, Bill and Yefim Gordon. Yakovlev Aircraft since 1924. London : Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1997. ISBN 1-55750-978-6.
  • Mellinger, George. Yakovlev Aces of World War 2. Botley : Osprey Publishing, 2005. ISBN 978-1-84176-845-8.
  • Stapfer, Hans-Heiri. Yak Fighters in Action (Aircraft number 78). Carrollton, Texas : Squadron/Signal Publications, 1986. ISBN 978-0-89747-187-9.

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Source : Article Yakovlev Yak-1 of Wikipedia ( authors )

Yakovlev Yak-1

  • Role : Fighter.
  • Manufacturer : Yakovlev OKB.
  • First flight : 13 January 1940 (I-26-1).
  • Introduction : 1940.
  • Retired : 1950.
  • Status : retired.
  • Primary users :
    • Soviet Air Force.
    • Free French Air Force (Normandie-Niemen).
    • Polish Air Force.
    • Yugoslav Air Force.
  • Produced : 1940 to 1944.
  • Number built : about 8,700.
  • Developed into :

    • Specifications (Yak-1)

  • Crew: one.
  • Length: 27 ft 10 in (8.48 m).
  • Wingspan: 32 ft 10 in (10.0 m).
  • Height: 8 ft 8 in (2.64 m).
  • Wing area: 184.6 sq ft (17.15 m²).
  • Airfoil: Clark YH (14% at root, 10% at tip).
  • Empty weight: 5,106 lb (2,316 kg).
  • Max takeoff weight: 6,358 lb (2,884 kg).
  • Powerplant: One Klimov M-105PF liquid-cooled V-12 piston engine.
  • Power: 1,260 hp (940 kW) at 2,300 ft (700 m).
  • Propeller: 3-bladed constant-speed.
  • Maximum speed: 368 mph (592 km/h, 320 kts) at 16,100 ft (4,900 m).
  • Range: 430 mi (700 km, 380 nmi).
  • Service ceiling: 32,970 ft (10,050 m).
  • Time to altitude: 5.4 min to 16,400 ft (5,000 m).
  • Wing loading: 31 lb/sq ft (150 kg/m²).
  • Takeoff run: 1,120 ft (340 m).
  • Landing run: 1,840 ft (560 m).
  • Armament: 1 x 20 mm ShVAK cannon and 1 x 12.7 mm Berezin UBS machine gun (early Yak-1: 1 x ShVAK and 2 x 7.62 mm ShKAS); up to 6 RS-82 rockets or 2 x 100 kg bombs.

— — — = = — — —

This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Yakovlev Yak-1 of Wikipedia ( authors )
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    On a smartphone, the lack of space is growing and this menu is moved to the bottom of the page to give priority to videos and pictures.

    The top right icons are links to videos posted by third parties (on their own responsabilities) or by ourselves. The link below these icons will take you to the channel of the one who posted the video. Feel free to suggest other videos if you think they are of some interest (Use the BLOG button or the "Contact" link).