Mier a ee ee ee Yakoviev Yak-25/-26/-27/-28Yakoviev Yak-25/-26/-27/-28 Yakovlev’s Tactical Twinjets Yefim Gordon Original translation by Dmitriy Komissarov PORKYakovlev Yak-25/-26)-27/-28 Contents ‘Yakovlev’ Tactical Twine {© 2002 Yefim Gordon ISBN 1 85780 1253, Introduction 3 Chapters 1 Twenty-five, Take Two 5 Published by Midland Publishing b tastetng New Mcsiooa oe 4 Wating Drive, Hinkley, LE103EY, England Tel: 01455 254 490 Fax: 01455 254 495, mail: miclandbooks@compuserve.com 3. To Shoot and to Be Shot At - Missile Toting Versions and Drones .21 Cain orca ayo 4 Higher and Higher Pa Mian Publishing fan iment ot © 00e Mand Publshing and 5. The Flashlight and Mandrake tan Afan Polishing Stephen Tonpeon Asoctce ngevoe z cee eee ne 6 Breaking he Sound Barrier... 32 : ito exept Noth Arca ton Engr Midland Counties Pubiictions fan Allan Printing Lio 7 Supersonic Interceptors. 38 4 Waling Drive, Hinkley, LE10 EY, England Fiverdene Business Park, Molesey Road, 8 New Eyes “ Telephone 01655254460 Fax 01455250737 Hersham, Suey, KTI2 486, 9 ANew Generation or Eat midlendbooke@compusenecom the Bomber Revevisted 2° town midandcounessipersior om Aight reserved, No par this 10. Special Mission Brewers 8 pubcaton may berorodes, it eae ea a Nor American rade cero Stored in area sytem, vanemted Speciay Press Pblatere& Wicleslrsinc, many emerby ay neue, doco, 12 Successor to the Fashight 2 11605 Kost Dam Road, North Branch, MN 55056, ‘mechanical or photo-copied, recorded 13, The Firebar in Action 7 Tab es 59.290. Fax 6 589 2023, Crothevse,nteut eon pee a Tal te tlphone: 00 896 4585 puiain ofthe pubtahors Anpencices 1 Yak 25/.26/.27 Family Performance 84 2 Yak-25/-26:27 Individual Aircraft Detals 26 3. Yak-28 Family Specfeaions...... 8 4 Yak-28 individual Aircraft Detas..90 Tio page: Frebar plots dlecuss tates in front af thelr mount "he bad guy does tis, and thon End Notes 1 te and knock the ono xt th” tase nied ‘Yak Twinjets Family Drawings we Yak 25/26/27/-28n Colour. 119 Below: A technician checks the cockpit of a YYak-25M. Yelm Gordon archive 2 Yakovlev Yok 25/-26/271:20For years, the Soviet government could remain confident that the northern and easter borders of the USSR were safe. They were guarded by nature itself; the vast expanses of water and ice made them inaccessible for would-be foes. Things changed dramatically in the late 1940s with the advent of strategic bombers possess- ing intercontinental range. Crossing the Arctic (Ocean at high speed and altitude, they could strike atthe Soviet Union's military and indus- tral centres, The Soviet Air Defence Force (PVO - Pro- tivovozdooshnaya oborona) was unable to Counter this new threat and fight back massive air strikes from across the Pole, Hence the task of building a chain of AD radars along the fron- tiers and fielding new interceptor aircraft which ‘could patrol the borders for an extended time received the highest priority. All of the Soviet “fighter makers’ - and even some design bureaux specialising in other types of aircraft — ‘were working on such weapons systems. The design bureau led by Aleksandr ‘Sergeyevich Yakovlev (OKB-115)' had earned fame as a ‘fighter maker’ during the Second ‘World War. When Soviet aviation entered the jet ‘age in the mid-1940s, the Yakovlev OKB was at the forefront. The Yak-15 fighter (NATO code ‘name Feather) made its fist fight on 24th April 1946 —three hours after the rival Mikoyan/Gure- Vich 1-300" (manufacturer's designation fzdetive F)? known as the MiG-9 Fargo in production form, The first fight sequence was decided by tossing a coin. ronically, this sequence was to have a symbolic meaning, as in the post-war years Yakovlev’ single-seat fighters were con- tinuously overshadowed by their Mikoyan com- ppetitors and produced on a much smaller scale, Yet the Yakovlev OB soon got its own back inanother area, developing a line of twinjettac- tical aircraft which served successfully with the VO and the tactical arm ofthe Soviet Air Force (WS - Voyenno-vozdooshryye seely) until the rmid-1980s. The Yakovlev twinjt family is the subject ofthis book. To adequately describe how these aircraft came into being, itis necessary to say that early Soviet jt fighters were day fighters. However, progress in radar development and the need to provide interceptors with all-weather capability led to the obvious conclusion that such aircraft had to be equipped with radars. ‘The Mikoyan/Gurevich design bureau (OKB- 168) tried a head-on approach to the problem a first, equipping the MiG-15bis Fagot-8 with Introduction the Toviy(Thoriu) radar developed by NI-17* Under chiet project engineer A B Slepooshkin, the Soviet radar technology pioneer. it was a single-antenna centimetre-waveband unit spe- cially designed for the MiG-15. Mikoyan engi- neers favoured the Tory because, having just one antenna of modest diameter, it did not require radical changes to the MiG-18's stuo- ture and aerodynamics. ‘The resulting aircraft designated izdeliye SSP-1 was completed in April and duly tested. Howover, trials quickly showed that the first attempt had filed. Given the Soviet state-ot- the-art in electronics development atthe time, the Toriy radar did not have automatic target tracking capability. Hence the plt ofa single ‘eat interceptor was subjected to an excessive ‘workload, asitwas dificult to fly the aircraft and track the target a the same time. The solution was to add a second crew member, the radar intercept operator (RIO); he would take care of navigation and approach tthe target, allowing the pilotto concentrate on ying te aircraft and fring the cannons. This greatly increased the chances of mission success. Besides, it was found advisable to have atwin-engined aircraft with two engines giving higher power and ‘greater reliability, the interceptor had more chances of completing its mission. In short the Air Force neaded an allnew aicralt, not a warmed-over day fighter. ‘The Mikoyar/Gurevich and Lavochkin (OKB- 301) design bureaux started ftom scratch, Yy i competitors; moreover, the aircraft surpassed the Ar Force's specific operational requirement (GOR) in all respects except range and endurance. With a 7.650-kg (16,865-Ib) AUW the Yak-120 had a top speed of 1,140km/h (616.21Kts) at 4,000m (13,123!) and 1,075km/h (681.08Kts) at 10,000m (82,808R). The inter: Ceptor climbed to 10,000m in 4.3 minutes and the service ceiling was 300m (984R) better than specified. Range fall litle short of the requirements; at 12,000m (f) it was 2,800km (1513nm) on internal fuel only and 3,250km (1,756nm) with a drop tank. Endurance was 8 hours 45 minutes in‘clean’ condition and 4 hours 15 minutes with Tz ‘drop tank. Stil, this did enable the Yak-120 10 ppatrola preassigned area at a considerable dis tance from its home base. The aircraft responded quickly to control Inputs and was quite agile, if not fully aerobat- Jc. Having a two-man crew increased combat efficiency, as in adverse weather the WSO would handle target search and help the pilot (fying the aircraft in instrument mode) guide the aircraft towards the target. Additionally, the Yak-120 had dual controls, which meant the WSO could take over if necessary, reducing pilot fatigue on long missions. ‘The results of the manufacturer's fight tests ‘convinced the military leaders and the Ministry Of Aircraft Industry (MAP ~ Ministerstvo vat ‘seeonnoy promyshiennost) that the Yakovlev contender was superior to the La-200B. How- ever, the continued unavailability of the intend- fed RP-6 Sokol radar meant that the Yak-120 could not be submitted for State acceptance ertitication) trials, Hence in early December 1952 MAP issued fan order to the effect that the prototype be urgently fited with the RP-1 Izumrood (Emer ald) radar and transterted to the Air Force Research Institute (Nil WS - Naoochno-issle- dovatelskly institoot voyenno-vozdooshnykh See!) for State acceptance trials. Like the abovementioned Torly radar, the RP-1 (NATO Yakovlev Yak26/26:27/28 7‘code name Scan Odd) had been developed by NIL17° under Viktor V Tikhomeerov.Ithad auto- matic target tracking capability and had been tested successfully in January-March of that year on the MiG-15bis(izdeliye SP-5) develop- ment aircraft Unlike the RP-6, the RP-1 had separate search and tracking antennas which of neces- sity were very compact (the radar had been designed for the MIG-15 which had a nose intake); as a result, they looked lost inside the ‘Yak-120's huge radome. Meanwhile, the La-2008 was to be trans- {erred to NIL17 for conversion into an avionics testbed for the Sokol radar. (This apparent dis- ‘crepancy is explained by the fact that OKB.339 was part of NI17; at one time the institute had two teams specialising in different classes of radars.) From March to June 1958 the Yak-120 was tested at NII WS with the provisional radar installation. Even though the State commission ‘noted a few shortcomings, the general opinion 8 Yakovlev Yak 25126-2728 was favourable and the aircraft was recom- mended for production under the service des: ignation Yak-25 (which, as the reader remembers, had been used fora fighter proto- type in 1947) - providing the said shortcomings wore corrected. The prototypes test results obtained at NII WS were approved on 8th Sep: tember 1953 by Council of Ministers directive No 2959-965 as a specification for production Yak 25s, In accordance with the commission's find ings some changes were made to the Yak-120 prototypes (eg, second pair of boundary layer fences was added on the outer wings at about mid-span of each aileron). These changes added 25kg (551b) to the aircraft's ‘empty weight, increasing the AUW to 8,700kg (19,1801b). From 1st to 26th October 1953 the ‘modified interceptor underwent renewed man: uacturer's fight tests at the hands of V M Volkov. Subsequent checkout trials at NII WS confirmed the Yak-120's high performance, clearing the way for production Yak-25 Flashlight-A patrol interceptor {As noted earlier, debugging and testing of the ‘Sokol radar was taking longer than anticipated, which meant production entry was delayed. Therefore, the Powers That Be decided to launch Yak-25 production in ‘as-was’ cond tion, ie, with the interim RP-1 Lzumrood radar. The version for the Yak-25 incorporated minor changes from the basic model ted to the MiG- 17P/PF and thus was designated RP-1D, the D standing for dorabotannyy (modified or improved). Inthe Soviet Union, unlike the West, the “air craft companies’ le, OKBs) had only very limt- ed production facilities used for making prototypes and static test airrames. Once an aircraft had been cleared for production, this would be the responsiblity ofan aircraft facto- ry ‘owned’ by MAP. Thus Yak-25 production was assigned 10 factory No292 in Saratov in southern Russia. The first production intercep- tors were completed in September 1954. Very few were built with the lzumrood radar, as at he tend of the year the initial version was super seded by the Yak-25M, Outwardly production Yak-25s differed from the prototypes in having a dielectric fin cap housing navigation anten- ‘nas. When the West became aware of the type’s existence the Yak-25 was allocated the NATO reporting name Fiashiight; later, when supersonic derivatives of the aircraft (the Yak: 26-1 modified and Yak-27) became known, this was changed to Flashlight-A ‘The single-seat, single-engined MiG-17P, which had entered mass production in Gor'kiy, was entering service with the IA PVO ata much faster rate, Stil, the Yak-25 proved indispensi ble in the remote northern and eastern regions ‘An anonymous production Yak-25M (c/n 0321) ‘during checkout trials. Yakovlev OKBof the USSR. Having a second crew member \who could take over the controls gave the pilot ‘extra confidence on long averwater missions ~ {thing notto be treated lightly. Besides, having ‘two engines spaced far apart was an important safety actor increasing the chances of coming home in the event of an engine fallure. Yak-25M Flashlight-A patrol interceptor (zdetiye 12/18) By the end of 1953 the Sokol radar had been ‘brought up to scratch on the La-200B testbed. This radar proved to be much more capable than the RP-1D; it ad not only greater detec: tion range (@Okm/16.2nm versus 12km/ 6.48nm) but also limited ook-down’ capability, detecting targets fying as low as 300m (984f), Hence in November 1953 MAP issued an order tothe effect that testing of the RP-6 on the Lav- ‘ochkin aircraft be concluded and the radar Installed on the Yak-120. In Aptil 1954 the upgraded Yak-120 proto- type with the intended RP-6 radar successtully ‘completed the final stage of the State accep- tance trials and the radar was cleared for pro- duction. On 13th May 1954 the Council of Ministers issued directive No899-385 det ‘mining the main specifications of the produc: tion interceptor with the Sokol radar as detailed below. The directive ordered the production of 30 aircraft to this standard in 1954. Curiously, IMAP order No3521o the same etfect appeared before that, on 22nd April; normally such MAP orders followed ColM directives. ‘The specifications were as follows: Normals weight i ©) 960 (20017 Te speek cs) at 50 (6st) 100 66019) at 10q00m 2.08) 1924 051) Cl eto 10.000m in er Senin elng mt) 14,100 46250) ange t 12000 (97), kn) ina condtion 200 (1.08) vith op tank 2.600 (1421) Encrance at 12,000 (28370) in'ean condition 2hes 48 in wih top nk Shes96in “The version withthe RP-6 was designated Yak- 25M (modifiseerovannyy ~ modified). In s vice, however, this designation did not find wide use; Air Force documents usually refer to production aircraft simply as ‘Yak-25', regard less of radar type. The in-house product code at the Saratov aircraft factory was ‘izdelie 12118. ‘Apart from the radar, the Yak25M had a ‘number of detail changes, The AM-5A Srs 1 tur bojts ofthe original Yak-25 were replaced with identically ated RD-SA (AM-SA) Srs 2 engines’ with design improvements. In order to improve directional stability during take-off and landing the wheelbase was increased by moving the nose gear unit forward 33cm (tft tin). The can- rons were fitted with muzzle brakes and some ‘other systems changes were introduced, Four {uel cells (bladder tanks) in the fuselage held 3,445 litres (757.9 Imp gal) of fuel, and a 670- litre (147.4 Imp gal) drop tank could be carried, A total of 406 Flashiighi-As was built to Yak- ‘25M standard. Curiously, the aircraft was never officially on strenath withthe IA PVO (it should be noted that in the Soviet Union, combat ait- craft were often officially included into the inventory after they had been in service for years!) Stil, this did not prevent the the Yak-25 ‘and Yak-25M from soldiering on with the Air Defence Force unt the early 1960s, ‘The following bref structural description applies to the production Yak-25M, Fuselage Semi-monocoque stressed-skin_duralumin structure of basically circular cross-section ‘changing to elliptical at the rear. Diameter 1.45m (Aft Sin). The forward fuselage incorpo- rates a pressurized cockpit with tandem seats land a pressurized avionics bay. Access to ‘avionics and equipment is provided by a detachable dielectric radome and metal tal- ‘cone, pplus numerous hinged or removable panels, ‘The cockpit is enclosed by a sliding canopy with a fixed windshield incorporating a 105mm, (4.13in) bulletproof windscreen. Protection for the crew is also proviced by forward and later- ‘al duralumin armour plates, armoured seat backs and armoured headrests, all of them ‘10mm (0.38in) thick; additionally, the ejection ‘guns on both seats are protected against ‘enemy fire by 10mm armour plate. The canopy is followed by a shallow spine housing control runs, piping and electric wiring, ‘The aft fuselage incorporates door-type air- brakes with an area of 1.0m* 10,75h) each and ‘a maximum deflection of 50°, These are auto- matically deployed in the event of crew ejection. Wings Cantilever mid-set wings of basically trape- zoidal planform. Sweepback at quarter-chord 45°, anhedral 5", incidence 1°, aspect ratio 4.18, taper 1.21. Leading-edge sweep con- stant, kinked trailing edge with unswept inner- ‘most portions. Wing span 10,964m (36ft11n), wing area 28.94m* (811.18t"), mean aerody- ‘namic chord 2.639m (Aft Bin). The wings utilise ‘TsAGI $128 symmetrical arf at the root and ‘TsAGI SR-11 asymmetrical airfoil at the ‘mean thickness/chord ratio 8.7%. ‘The wings are all-metal stressed-skin two- ‘spar structures with 36 ribs and an internal brace hinged to the front spar. Each wing is builtin two sections, with the joint lying out- board of the engine nacelles. The outer wings terminate in tip faiings housing the landing ‘gear outrigger struts and pitot booms. Two- ‘section Schrenck flaps divided by the engine nacelles; flap settings 25° for take-off and 50° for landing, flap area 407m (43.76t). Two boundary layer fences on each outer wing, Tall unit Cantilever cruciform tail surfaces of allmetal stressed-skin construction, with conventional Inset control surfaces, augmented by a ventral fin under the aft fuselage. The vertical tal utlis- es NACA-0009M and NACA.0008M symmetri- cal airfoils, witha thickness/chord ratio of 94 at the root; sweepback at quarter-chord 55° taper 2.18. The finisatwo-spar structure joined to the fuselage by four fitings; it incorporates a dielectric fin cap housing communications radio and ILS aerials. ‘The horizontal tal is swept back 45° at quar- ter-chord; aspect ratio 3.29, taper 2.0, inci- dence -1° 30 with respect to the wing root rib. It ‘uses NACA-000010M airfoil with a thickness/ chard ratio of 10% Landing gear Pnoumatically-etractable bicycle type, with single-wheel steerable nose unit, twin-wheel ‘main unit and single-wheel outrigger struts at the extreme wingtips. All units retract aft and hhave oleo-pneumatic shock absorbers; nose- wheel size 600x 155mm (23.62 x6.10in), mainwheels 800 x225mm (31.49 x 8.85in), outrigger wheels 310% 195mm (12.24 x 5.31in). The mainwheels have two-chamber pneumatic brakes with an ant-skid system, Powerplant Two Mikulin RD-5A (AM.SA) non-afterbuming turbojets rated at 2,000kgp (4,409 lst) fortake- off and 1,700kgp (3,747 Ibst) at nominal power. The engines are located in streamlined nacelles attached directly to the wings by anchor nuts, The nacelles are 5,085m (16tt £8Xin) long, 0.824m (2 8yin) wide and 0.9855m (Git 2kin) high; inlet diameter is 0.53m (11 Sin) land engine nozzle diameter is 0.503m (tft 7in). The tront portion of each nacelle is detachable, allowing the engine to be extract. ed forwards for removal; each nacelle incorpo- rates quick-release fitings and guide rails for the engine. The axis of each engine is parallel tothe fuselage waterline and located 0.59m (tft 114dn) below it and 2.183m (Zit in) from the centreline Control system Conventional mechanical fight control system. with pust-pull rods, bellcranks and levers; the flight controls, landing gear, flap and airbrake controls are fully duplicated, enabling both ‘orew members to fly the aircraft. The roll and pitch control circuits incorporate irreversible hydraulic actuators, Roll controlis provided by ailerons with inter- nal aerodynamic balancing at the outer extrem- ities of the wing trailing edge. Total aileron area 's2.865m: (90.8) and aileron deflection +25". Directional controls provided by a two-section rudder with an area of 1.307m (14.05ft), rud- dr deflection +26". Pitch control is by means of elevators with trim tabs. Total elevator reais. 1.265m° (13.61, including 0.113M*(1.2ft) for the trim tabs, and elevator deflection is +33°/-20", Yohovlev Yak-25/.26:27128 9usually the last three of the former civil regis- tration; many Sovie/Russian Air Force trans- ports were, and still are, quasi-civllan.) At the ‘same time the star insignia on the aft fuselage were deleted, remaining on the wings and ver- tical tall only.) Yak-25M testbeds Several Yak-25Ms were also modified for vat ous test and development programmes. For ‘example, one aircraft coded 18 Red was used to test the canopy jettison system. Another example, 21 Red, was a de-icing system testbed for the Yak-281 and Yak-28L. Brewer tactical bombers described in Part 2 of this feature. The front portions of the engine nacelles were redesigned to replicate those of 12 Yakovlev Yak251:26127/-28 the Yak-281/Yak-28L powered by Tumanskiy R-11AF2.300 afterbuming turbojets, featuring ‘extended sharp-lipped air intakes with movable shock cones. A circular grille with water sprin- kler nozzles was installed on struts in front of the starboard engine. Other non-standard fea- ‘ures were an additional aerial on the fus ‘spine just ahead ofthe fin fillet and a towel ral! ‘eral (possibly for telemetry downloading) on the fin leading edge above the horizontal tall This aircraft has likewise been referred to as Yak 251. (Other Yak-25Ms were converted into engine testbeds. Lite is known about these aircraft, except that the development engines were mostly those envisaged for future versions of the Flashlight. Yak-120M patrol interceptor prototype The abovementioned Council of Ministers directive No 2359-965 of &th September 1953 Issued shortly after Stage 1 of the Yak-120's State acceptance trials had been completed contained several items. One of them ordered the Yakovlev OKB to re-engine the second pro totype with the new Mikulin AM-9A afterburning turbojets (a version of the engine powering the future MiG-19 Farmer); MAP order No50 to this effect appeared on 19th September. Rated at 2,650kgp (6,842Ibst) dry and 3,250kgp (7.164 lbst) reheat, the AM-9A was a straightor ward development of the AM-S with an extra ‘compressor stage, a new can-annular com- bustion chamber and, of course, an afterbur- er with a three-position convergent-divergent nozzle. ‘Another change concerned armament. The cannons were to be supplemented with rocket pods for 57mm (2.24in) ARS-57 Skvorets (Star- ling) folding-in aircraft rockets (FFARs)* and appropriate modifications were to be made to the RP-6 Sokol radar. Since a ground attack role was not envisaged, the FFARs would prob- ably be used against enemy bomber forma: tions. Designated Yak-120M, the modified Interceptor was to commence State accep: tance trials in September 1954 pursuant to CofM directive No49-34 of 13th January 1954 and MAP order No26 of 15th January. ‘Actually work on an improved Yak-120 with Uprated engines and a SokokM radar began before all these government orders. However, ‘conversion of the second prototype was con: stantly delayed - first by late delivery of the engines and then by the unavailabiity of the radar; eventually a standard RP-6 (which had by then entered production) had to be installed asa stopgap measure, Serialled 18 Yellow and carrying the tail code 3 (presumably to signity the third Yak-120 built at MMZ Not 16), the air- craft was completed atthe end of 1954. (Of course the intended test schedule had gone to the dogs. Fully realising that the ‘Yakovlev OKB was notto blame for this, on 20th November 1954 the Council of Ministers issued a new directive (No 2337-1111) which post- pponed Stage 1 of the State acceptance trials ~ le, with the standard Sokol radar and sans FFAR installation ~ until January 1955. By March 1955, however, the Yak-120M was to be ready for Stage 2 with the Sokol-M radar and FFARs. Interestingly, this document also The Yak-25L ejection seat testbed, still minus tactical code: the open rear cockpit with protective faring is well visible. Note camera fairing atop the wingtip. Yim Gordon arctive ‘The same aircraft withthe rear cockpit canopy In place; this configuration was mostly used for ferry lights. Yetim Gordon archive ‘Azoro-zoro ojection soat i fired from Yak-25L ‘01 Red? during a high-speed tax run, Ye Gordon archiveFring the ejection seat inflight; the elongated object attached to the seat back could be a canopy fracturing device. Yim Gordon archive 27 Red, another Yak-25 converted for ejection seat tials, Sergey and Dmity Komissarov archive ‘Another Yak-25L firing an experimental ejection seat. The tactical code appears to be 21 Red. Yom Gordon archivo specified 190mm (748i) TRS-190 rockets (yazholyy reaktiveyy snaryad ~ heavy rocket) as altemative armament. MAP order No703 to the same effect followed six days later. ‘As noted earlier, the Yak-120 retrofitted with the Sokol radar had successfully passed its State acceptance trials earlier that year. Thus the Yak-120M was in effect a derivative of the future production Yak-25M, differing from it in the following respects. The engine nacelles were redesigned to accommodate the after- burning AM-A engines, being both longer and {attor, and the nacelle attachment fitings were beeted up. The increased nacelle diameter necessitated a slight reduction in fap span on booth inner and outer wings, and the take-off flap setting was reduced by 10°. The boundary layer fences were made 50mm (1.96in) taller and moved outward 250mm (8.84in). An 11-kg (24.2510) antfutter weight was fited at each wingtip near the pitot attachment. ‘Two recesses accommodating launchers for |ARS-57 or TRS-190 FFARs were provided in the lower centre fuselage sides between fuselage frames 9A and 17; when no rocket launchers ‘were carried the recesses were closed by detachable covers to reduce drag. This required reinforcement of the adjacent fuse- lage structure and changes tothe fuel cells (the bottoms of fuel coll bays Not, 3 and 4 were inclined and cell No2 was split into two sec: tions); ths, in turn, caused a slight reduction in fuel capacity ‘The Sokol-M radar replacing the standard RP.6 unit enabled targeting and accurate fire with both cannons and rockets in all weather Conditions, day and night. Speaking of can- rnons, the Yak-25's standard N-37Ls were sub- stituted with lighter 23mm (90. calibre) ‘Nude! mar/Rikhter NR-23s with S0rpg to offset the extra weight ofthe rocket armament The Yak-120M's normal fuel load was 2,700kg (6,852 b) of internal fuel, increasing to 3,400kg (7-495!) with a drop tank; the latter figure includes 540kg (',190!b), which means that with the normal fuel load the internal fuel calls were not quite full. The wheelbase was identical to that of initial production Yak-25s (ie, short) Stage 1 of the trials began as planned in January 1955 and was completed within the month; however, it was performed solely by OKB-115 (le, these were manufacturer's flight tests). By then OKB-339 had stl failed to deliv er the radar; therefore the Yak-120M was tured over to NII WS with the old RP-6 radar ‘and minus rocket armament. Stage 2 or, off: cially, Stage 1 of the State acceptance trials — also began on schedule (in March 1955) and ‘was duly completed on 26th April when the State commission signed Protocol No1/25. During the course of the trials along pitot was ‘added tothe fin leading edge and a forked ILS aerial mounted atop the fin was replaced by a strake aerial of the type fited to production Flashight-As, ‘Since the aterbumers could not be engaged below 5,000m (16,404R), the aircrat's perfor- ‘mance fela ite short ofthe requirements. Top speed at 5,000m was .122knvh (606.48kts) instead ofthe speciied 1122kmvh (621,62ks) the service celing was 16,300m (63,477) instead of 16,500 to 17000m (64,133. to 55,7748) and the time required to reach 10,000m (32,808ft) exceeded the specified 2 minutes by fr. Infact the SokoLM radar was never brought up to soratch, Besides, inthe meantime the mi itary had drawn up new and more stingent operational requirements for interceptors, Yakoviov Yak 25/-26/-27128 13‘demanding frst and foremost higher speed. To , meet these the Yakovlev OKB began develop- ment of a supersonic derivative of the Flash light-A and thus the Vak-120M was abandoned. ‘Yak-120MF engine testbed (On 28th March 1956 the Council of Ministers Issued directive No424.261 followed on 6th ‘April by MAP order No194 to the same effect. ‘These documents relegated the Yak-120M pro: totype to a role as a testbed for the RD-9F tur bojets. At this stage of ts career the aircraft was known as Yak-120MF. ‘This Flashlight coded 18 Red was used for ‘canopy jettison system trials. Yo Gordon achive ‘Yok-25M 28 Red(c/n 0028) was used by Lilto Investigate the type’s suitability for operation {rom dirt strips. Yelm Gordon archive 21 Rod, the much-modified Yak 25M used for {esting the Yak-28's engine intake de-icing system. The grid with water spray nozzles is ‘oll visible. Yim Gordon archive 415 Yellow, the Yak-120M prototype. The tll code “3 Yollow’ suggests the alrraft was converted third Yak-120 built (le, the second ttype. Yakoviev OKB 14 Yakoview Yak-26/-26427/-28Chapter Two Mastering New Missions ‘Yak-125 tactical photo reconnaissance alrcraft prototype ‘As noted earlier, Council of Ministers directive No2929-1379 tasked the Yakovlev OKB with developing the Yak-125 two-seat tactical reconnaissance aircraft based on the Yak-120 interceptor and submitting it for State accep- tance trials in October 1952. Development of the two versions proceeded in parallel, and thus structurally and outwardly the two aircraft were almost identical. The fusolage nose was all metal, albeit with nearly identical contours, and the forked ILS Glideslope antenna was mounted externally Lnder the nose (on the interceptor it was hid- den inside the radome). The radar was deleted to make room for two AKAFU automatic iting camera mounts installed side by side. These ‘could carry AFA-33/100M, AFA-33/75M or AFA- 33/50M cameras for two-strip, three-strip or four-strip vertical photography which covered a stip 3 to 8km (1.86 to 4.97 miles) wide when the aireratt was flying at 2,800 to 15,000m (0,186 to 49,212f).’ Ahead of these was a flex: ble oblique camera mount with an AFA-3375M or AFA-22/50M camera shooting to port or to starboard. The camera ports were protected by hinged doors on take-off and landing. To ‘accommodate the bulky camera equipment the nose had to be extended slighty; the cam- eras could be accessed via tandem dorsal hatches. ‘The camera and camera port control panels, wore located in the rear cockpit occupied by the reconnaissance systems operator (RSO), ‘There was a viewing window in the rear cockpit floor; additionally, the RSO could find his tar {gets by means of an OBP-1R optical sight (OBP opticheskiy bombardeerovochnyy pritsel — ‘optical bomb sight). An AK-2 automatic head: ing control system ensured the aircrat stayed Cn its planned course in the event of an engine failure, compensating for the resulting asym- ‘metric thrust. The principal avionics were iden- tical to those of the interceptor version, Comprising the RSIU-SM UHF radio, the Materik ILS (ARK-5 ADF, RV-2 and RV-10 radio alimeters and MRP-48P marker beacon recei e, the SRO IFF transponder, the SPU-2R inter ‘com etc, The navigation system included an NI50B navigation display (navigatseeonnyy indikahtor), a DGMK-3 remote gyromagnetic compass (distantseeonnyy gheeromagnitnyy ‘kompas) etc ‘The armament was reduced to a single NR: 28 cannon with 80 rounds on the starboard side of the fuselage; the pilot used a PKI coll rmator gunsight for aiming it. Internal fuel capacity in four bladder tanks was increased to 3,925 litres (863.5 Imp gal); as with the inter- ceptor, a 670-ltres (147.4 Imp gal) centreline drop tank could be carried The advanced development project (ADP) of the recce version was completed in the autumn of 1951. A forward fuselage mockup was built ‘and duly presented tothe mockup review cor. mmission in December together with the full scale mockup of the Yak-120 interceptor. Powered by AMS turbojets, the unseralled Yak-125 prototype was completed in August ‘The Yak-125 reconnaissance areraft as originally ‘own; note the single boundary layer fences. "Yom Gordon archive 1952. On 26th August the aircraft made its maiden fight, ploted by V M Volkov. The man- tfacturer's fight test programme was complet edalitle over a yearlater, on 3rd October 1953; ‘according to the OKB's test report, by then the ‘Yak-125 had logged 83 hrs 25 min in 79 flights. ‘The NIIWS report, however, gives diferent fig- tres for this period ~ 82 fights totalling 82 hrs 18min. As originally flown the aircraft hada sin- gle boundary layer fence on each wing and was ‘Yoke 125speciations (Cot directive ‘ADP speiiations Length overat - 1. 745m 7887, Wing span 100m 961.07) Wing ara, 5 7896 31139), Empty weit, kg) 4985 (10900) na Normal TOW, kg fb) 950010 19000 09431022045) 8750 (19290) Paycad, kg fb) - 3765 830) Flo, kg () 350716) Wing loading, kin fo) - 310(15087), Power loa, kkgp (ibs) a 22 “Top speed, kh ts): 35,0000 6,000r (1640410 19.685) 1050 to 100 (67581059459) 1075 (81.08)¢ 10,0008 (2,08) 10000 1060 (5405410 58756) 1020 (51.35) Landing speed, kh ts) = 195 1054) (etme, in: to 000m 16 40a - 20 to 10000 (028084) 50 (overthetarget) 4a Seni eing mf) 15,000 (48.212) 15700 49540) Range on ital uel at 1200010 13000n (28370104265) km nm) 00062) 48 2001 Endurance on rteal ue 12,0000 13000, hous 5 st Takoot un, 900 2982) Landing run 2 500 (1640) * Equals a trstveghtraioof 45; fat. 00m (16 404H); $a 1.000m 42.851 Yakovlev Yak25/-26:-27/-28 15Above lat: This view ofthe Yak-125 during ‘manutacture's flight tests shows cleary the grey- painted rear end and undernose ILS acral. YYakovew OXB. [Above ight and right: The Yak-125 during trals at [NILWS with grey-painted nose and modified 1LS ‘aerial. Yetim Gordon archive natural metal overall, except for the light grey 2 ee lence Stpaccepones tls __ fn and aft fuselage. Later, a second pair of Length oral 157161 6%) 187im 61 6") fences was added, the nose was also painted Wingspan {098m @s 115) 10.96m 95 112) ‘rey & la Yak-25/25M and the ILS aerial under Wing area) 7896 1130) 2896 118) the nose was reversed, the fork pointing for- Enply weg whet drop ark, kg &) 5 612(12372) va ward instead of at. Normal AU, ig (8) na 9177 go231) ‘Apart from Volkow, the aircraft was flown by Maximum AU with op tank kg) $6502. 280, 9785 21571) ‘Sergey N Anokihin and Yakov | Vernkov ofthe Fuel ad, kg (6) Flight Test Institute (Lil ~ Lyotno-spytahteloyy itera ul roa na 32807165) insttoot) located in Zhukovskiy near Moscow. with dp tak 37508267 ‘8008377 Normal AUW with drop tank was 9.630kg Wingloaing, kin (ot) 3827 (1,69) 3186 154) (21230 b). The aircraft reached a top speed of ewe oadng kop (it) 24 23 “420km/n (605 4kts) at 3,000m (9,842) and Top ped, kh is} +,075krvh (681,08K's) at 10,000m (22,808 aS. nia sro aot. 2¢ Service celing was 15,000m (49:212f); with a3. 000n 98424) 1,120 (6054) na the drop tank ited, range and endurance were ato (16 40) 118 (6027) 41006948 £3,600km (1.946nm) and 4 hrs 25 min respec: at 10.000m 26 105 (681.06) 152 68884) tively at 13.000 (4265) na 83 (31.5) ‘The Yak-126's State acceptance tals at Nil Landing spe, kh (ks) na 205 (10873) VS lasted a mere two months, commencing (iii, min ‘on 25th December 1953 and ending on 26th ‘in 000m (164044) 20 218 February 1954. The reconnaissance version ‘06 00m (19.6854) a7 na ‘was almost equal in performance to the base- ‘000m aa08h) 58 565 line interceptor, outperforming the production Rate of ci, isc tin llyushin IL-28R Beagle and Mikoyan/Gurevich ast. 460 9082) na MiG-1SbisR Fagot-8 then in sonice with the at 0 (196852) 230 6510) na WS. During the State acceptance trials the at 10.000m ety 1608148) na normal AUW was reduced to 9,77kg Senice cing, mf) 1500 49212) 1490016, 140 488448 301)t (20,281). Range at 12000 (8,370, kn (nm) Top speed was recorded as 1110km/h onietema il ony na 2650 (482) (600.0Kts) at §,000m (16,404) and 1,052km/n vith ro tak 3.6006 500 (63) (668. 65k's) at 10,000m, which was an improve ange at 13.000 (2651 kn (om) ment of 60kmh (82.4k's) over the MIG-15bisR nite ul ony na 27201147) and 230kmh (124.22kts) over the IL-28R atthe vith ro tak na 3110 (1681) same altitudes, Maximum range with drop tank Endurance at 12 000m (2,378) at 12,000m (39,370h) was 3,040km (1,643nm) on teal ony na Shvs37 min versus 2,020km (1,082nm) for the MIG-15bisR wih ropa ‘hes 25 int 4s ia and 2,895km (1,895nm) for the IL-26R, albeit Endurance at 1 00m (42,651) the range ofthe ‘competitors’ was measured at ninteratulony na Shrs$6 nin 10,000m. The Yak-125's service celing with a vith roptank na ‘hrs 4min full fuel load was 14140m (46,3918) as com- Takeo mt) 782819) e507) pared to 15,700m (51,508) for the MiG-15bisR Takeo dar, mt) a 2707.19) and 12,300m (40,354) for the IL-28A. The Landing rn, 0 (3.084) 5756.19) capabilites of the reconnaissance equipment Landing estar, ) na 1680 5511) filed to the Yakovlev and liyushin types were broadly similar: * Limited by dynamic pressure; + in the event of take-off with full fue; $ at 12,000 to 13,000m (39,370 to 42,654, u 18 Yakovlev Yak 25/-261-27!-28