Aircraft Yak-1: description, technical specifications, serial modifications

Yak-1 - Soviet fighter aircraft of the Great Patriotic War. He was the first combat vehicle designed in Yakovlev Design Bureau, and the first model of a series of aircraft that became the basis of Soviet fighter aviation in the Second World War. Let's get acquainted with the history of Yak-1 and its technical parameters!

general characteristics

The Yak-1 aircraft were used by the USSR in 1940. Over four years of production, nearly 9,000 fighter aircraft were built and several modifications were developed. At the beginning of production enterprises were put in a tight timeframe, which led to a number of flaws in the design of the aircraft. Nevertheless, the pilots were very fond of this fighter. He beat the enemy from the first days of WWII. The aircraft was characterized by unpretentiousness in service, ease of operation and high performance characteristics, thanks to which it was able to withstand the German fighters Bf.109 and Fw.190 without any problems.

In addition to the Soviet pilot-ace, the legendary Alexander Pokryshkin, Yak-1 aircraft were piloted by such famous pilots as Alelyukhin, Koldunov and Ahmet-Khan-Sultan. It was on this plane that the regiment Normandie-Niemen entered the battle. In addition, the only women's regiment of the Red Army fought on the fighter plane.

Prerequisites for creating

In the late 40-ies of the last century, the Soviet fighter fleet began to need renovation. The country needed a new fighter capable of at least equal to countering foreign analogues. The I-16 was a "star" in the mid-1940s, and the USSR was the first state to adopt a high-speed fighter-monoplane. For a long time, the I-16 was a real leader in the Spanish sky, until in 1937 there was not sent a new German aircraft Bf.109. Of course, the first series of the German fighter was far from ideal, but they had a large modernization resource, which the Soviet flagship had already exhausted. In those days, aviation began to develop at a special speed, and the plane, created five years ago, was considered obsolete.

Development

Work on the creation of a new Soviet fighter began immediately in several design bureaus: Yakovlev, Lavochkin and Polikarpov. In 1940, the latter was deprived of the design bureau along with a practically completed aircraft project, which later would be called the MiG-1.

At that time, the leadership of the Soviet Air Force had already realized that the main air confrontation of the near future would take place at a high altitude, so the designers had to create fighters capable of showing themselves well at an altitude of more than 5000 meters. The future aircraft had to develop 600 km / h speed to have 11-12 km of practical ceiling and fly for 600 km.

At that time, one of the most serious problems of the Soviet aviation industry was the engines, whose supplies before the war fell heavily. Another difficulty was the deficit of the duralumin. The bulk of this material went to the production of bombers, so the designers of fighters and storm troopers had to actively use in their workings plywood, wood and canvas.

The design bureau of Alexander Yakovlev set about creating a fighter in May 1939. Previously, it engaged in sports and training aircraft. A new car was created on the basis of the sports model Ya-7. Design work was carried out at the plant No. 115.

The prototype of the fighter was named I-26. On January 13, 1940, he made his first flight. Piloting of the new fighter was entrusted to test pilot Yu. I. Piontkovsky. The first flight was successful, and the second led to an accident, as a result of which the pilot died and the car crashed. Later it was revealed that the cause of the disaster was a manufacturing defect. Despite the accident, no one doubted that the plane Yakovlev deserves attention. As a result, even before the end of state tests, the fighter was decided to put into mass production. At that moment it was called Yak-1.

Competitors

The rest of the Soviet aircraft of the Second World War, which participated in the pre-war competition, the fate has developed quite an interesting way. All of them were accepted for service and launched into the series. However, soon the war put everything in its place.

Mig-1 proved to be quite good at an altitude of more than five kilometers. The main battles on the Soviet-German front were much lower. In addition, the machine had weak armament. Soon it was withdrawn from production, and the constructed aircraft were transferred to the air defense.

The military way of the LaGG was even shorter. The car was completely built of wood, which had a bad effect on its weight. The characteristics of the aircraft also left much to be desired. Ultimately, the country's leadership ordered to stop the production of this aircraft and to transfer the freed capacities for the release of Yakov.

Production

At the time when the aircraft began to be produced serially, in Europe the war was gaining momentum. Because of the rush, the production aircraft was "raw", so in the production process, some corrections were made to the design. This led to a regular change in the drawings, the creation of new rigging, and in some cases even to the reworking of finished units and assemblies. The most serious improvements touched the oil system and chassis design, which overheated during braking. In the debugging, the fighter air system, its motor and armament also needed.

In the early autumn of 1940, the military transferred the first batch of the Yak-1 aircraft, consisting of 10 pieces, which immediately went to the army tests. On November 7 of the same year, five fighters took part in the parade that took place on Red Square. At the factories, in the meantime, the aircraft was fully developed, taking into account the comments received during the tests. In total, from June 1940 to January 1941, 7,000 changes were made to the aircraft drawings.

By the beginning of the Second World War, Soviet industrialists managed to produce a little more than four hundred copies of the Yak-1 fighter, but not all were in the troops. Only a part of the produced aircraft was mastered by pilots of the western military districts. The first one and a half years of military operations, the aircraft was certainly the best Soviet fighter. It was distinguished by its simplicity of construction, cheapness, ease of management, good flight parameters and powerful armament. The peak of production came in 1942, for which 3,500 aircraft were produced.

The production was completed in the summer of 1944, and the operation continued until the end of the Great Patriotic War.

Yak-1B

In the summer of 1942 the first modification of the fighter, which received the index "1B", was set up. From the basic version it was distinguished by a more powerful motor of the brand M-105PF. With a new power plant, the fighter accelerated to almost 600 km / h and could perform a turn for 19 seconds. In addition, the aircraft's armament also received some changes. The fighter was armed with two automatic 20-millimeter cannons SHVAK and one 12.7-millimeter machine guns UB.

The upgraded version of the aircraft was able to adequately withstand the latest modifications of the German Me-109 fighter. In combat, the Soviet aircraft was superior to the enemy, and on the vertical - slightly inferior to it. In addition to these improvements, the aircraft received a new flashlight, providing a good overview of the rear hemisphere and front armored glass.

Yak-1M

In November 1942, the Yakovlev Design Bureau began work on the creation of a machine that could confidently fight all types of German fighters. From these considerations, the initial design of the Yak-1 aircraft was subjected to serious revision. On February 15, 1943, the first copy of the Yak-1M fighter was built. From the production model, it was distinguished primarily by a reduced swing (9.2 m), and the wing area (14.83 m). Thanks to a number of constructive measures (reduction of the number of fuel tanks, reduction of tail area, and others), the aircraft's flight weight was reduced to 230 kg. In addition, due to the transfer of the oil cooler, the improvement of the external forms of the water radiator and the use of individual exhaust nozzles on each engine cylinder, the aerodynamic resistance of the aircraft has significantly decreased, and the speed has increased. Due to a large number of design changes, the aircraft was more like the Yak-3 model (the next aircraft of the series) than its basic version.

Design

The Yak-1 fighter was built in a normal aerodynamic scheme and was a monoplane with a fuselage of the semi-monocoque type and a low wing arrangement. The chassis of the aircraft was retracted to the floor.

The design was mixed, as it had elements made of metal, wood and linen. The supporting frame of the fuselage was constructed of steel pipes welded into a single element with a motor frame. Its main elements were 4 spars, fastened by a dozen frames. Between the first two frames there was a cockpit. There were also connecting fuselage and wings. And the frame of the lantern would be welded to the upper spars.

The front part of the aircraft was covered with a duralumin, and the rear part with a cloth. On the fore part was a hood, which in the first modifications had lateral "gills" for blowing the power unit.

In the rear of the fighter, on the fuselage, above and below, were installed gargrots, improving its aerodynamic parameters. The gently sloping upper gorgrot was a characteristic feature of the external appearance of the Yak-1. In subsequent modifications, it was redesigned to improve the pilot's view of the rear hemisphere.

The trapezoidal wings of the fighter were made of wood. The power frame of the wing included two spars and a set of ribs with stringers.

The wings were covered with bakelite plywood and linen. Aileron frames, landing flaps, chassis flaps and wing gaps, were made of duralumin. The tail of the aircraft also had a mixed design: the keel and stabilizer made of wood, the rudders of height and turning - from the duralumin.

The cockpit was closed with a lantern from plexiglass, the middle part of which was shifted by special slides back. The pilot's seat was protected by a 9 mm armored cover. The seat had a bowl for a parachute. The latest modifications of the model were equipped with an emergency flashlight reset system, which allows the pilot to leave the combat vehicle swiftly.

The fighter had a retractable landing gear, which rested on two racks and one tail pillar. The chassis was equipped with oil-air cushioning and air-shoe brakes. The chassis was retracted using a pneumatic system. The niche in which it was located was closed by two flaps during the flight. In addition to the usual chassis, the aircraft could be fitted with a ski chassis.

Equipment

The machine worked due to the engine M-105P with water cooling. On later versions, it was changed to more powerful engines M-105PA and M-105PF. The aircraft was equipped with a three-bladed propeller, with variable pitch. From the front, it was closed with an easily detachable cocoon of a streamlined shape. The motor was controlled by means of cables. The launch of the power plant was carried out with the help of compressed air.

The fuel system included four tanks, with a total capacity of 408 liters. All of them were placed in the wings of the car. Fuel supply was responsible for a gasoline pump driven by the main motor. The oil system had a 37-liter tank. The cooling radiator was placed in a special tunnel under the fighter powerplant.

The cockpit was equipped with an altimeter, a speedometer, a charge indicator, a turn indicator, a coolant temperature sensor and an ATS clock. From radio equipment, the car was equipped with a receiver "Baby", the transmitter "Eagle" and a radio half-compass.

Armament

As an armament, Alexander Yakovlev's aircraft received a 20-millimeter ShVAK gun and a pair of 7.92-millimeter ShKAS machine guns. The gun was installed in the collapse of the motor. She shot through the hollow shaft of the screw and the reducer sleeve. Machine guns were located above the engine, along the sides of the fuselage. The possibility of hit bullets in the screw was eliminated by using a synchronizer. The gun and machine guns could be recharged either manually or by means of a pneumatic drive. Ammunition of the machine gun consisted of armor-piercing-incendiary, explosive, tracer and targeting cartridges.

Combat operation

At the beginning of the Second World War the single-engine fighter Yak-1 was the best fighter of the Red Army. The main problem associated with the operation of the aircraft is its poor mastery by the personnel. The car was new and appeared in parts just a few months before the start of operation. The pilots were forced to retrain directly during the battles.

The plane was simple in control and "friendly" to the pilots. For those who managed to fly on the I-16, to change seats in the Yak-1 was a real event. Test pilots, after the first flights, wrote in conclusion that this car is available for a pilot with a qualification below the average. Nevertheless, it is one thing to raise a fighter into the air and land it on the ground, and the other is to confront one of the best fighters of the Second World War, the German Bf-109. The first Yak-1 models were significantly heavier than the enemy aircraft, and had a less powerful powerplant. Because of this, they lost the opponent in speed and rate of climb. In addition, the Soviet fighter initially had a number of "childhood" diseases, the cause of which was the rush in production.

The main technical problems of Yak-1:

1. Overheating of water and oil, when the motor is running at peak power. Spraying oil through bad seals. The oil not only splattered the fuselage, but the car's lantern smoked, covering the pilot's view. In addition, because of oil leaks, the engine could overheat, so the pilot had to slow down to cool it. In combat, this could lead to disastrous consequences.
2. Uneven production of fuel from different tanks.
3. Leaks of the pneumatic system.
4. Jamming and distortions of cartridge machine gun belts.
5. Self-twisting screws due to strong vibration.
6. Until 1942, the aircraft was not equipped with a radio.

Over time, the fighter lost these problems, but many pilots for this had to pay with their lives. Frankly speaking, the Yak-1, the review of which we are conducting, was inferior to German fighters throughout the war, and only later versions of the aircraft could surpass opponents. Here it is worthwhile to understand that the outcome of an air battle often depends not on the characteristics of the aircraft, but on the skills of the pilots and adequate calculation of forces. At the beginning of the war, Soviet pilots had big problems, but eventually they gained experience and realized all their potential.

In such large-scale conflicts as the Second World War, one more thing should be taken into account: the ability to quickly repair the losses of equipment and personnel is more important than the technical perfection of technology. In this respect, the USSR had a total superiority. It is much more profitable to have a hundred pilots and a simple cheap fighter than a dozen aces and a resource-intensive fighter.

The merits of the Yak-1 aircraft include the following:

1. Relative simplicity and cheapness;
2. Compliance with the technological base, which at that time had the USSR.
3. Acceptable technical and flight parameters.
4. Simplicity in management and availability for the pilots trained on the accelerated program.
5. Great modernization resource.
6. Unpretentiousness and maintainability.
7. Broad gauge, allowing the use of ground airfields.

Options

The main technical characteristics of Yak-1:

1. The wing span is 10 m.
2. The height is 1.7 m.
3. The length is 8.48 m.
4. The area of the wing is 17.15 m ² .
5. Takeoff weight is 2700 kg.
6. Engine power - 1180 liters. from.
7. The maximum speed is 592 km / h.
8. The practical range is 850 m.
9. Practical ceiling - 10,000 m.
10. The climbing speed is 926 m / min.
11. Crew - 1 person.