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Yakovlev Yak-23

1947 COLD WAR WARSAW PACT

History of Yakovlev Yak-23

Yakovlev The Yak-23 was the last iteration of the post-war turbojet design, starting with the Yak-15 and continuing through the Yak-17 family of aircraft. The Yak-23 is similar to the Yak-17, but differs in the use of a higher mounted horizontal stabilizer surface.

Another major design difference is the larger rudder design component.

The Yak-23 is a single-engine, single-crew jet built with a humble airframe. Straight-wing designs - popular in jet design at the time - adorned the sides of the mid-tail cockpit. The cockpit area located at the rear of the fuselage reinforces the aerodynamic elements.

At the front of the fuselage is a tapered air intake, and the turbojet exhaust is located in the center of the fuselage, just below the pilot's seat. The powered tricycle landing gear completes the most important technical design features.

Dubbed a "light day fighter", the Yak-23 was armed with two 23mm nose cannons - a popular alternative to WWII machine gun fighter designs today. A 132-pound conventional bomb can also be used as a carrier under the fuselage, adding multipurpose capability.

Capable and maneuverable, the Yak-23, which first flew in June 1947, actually used a licensed and imported version of the British Rolls-Royce Derwent engine in the form of the Klimov RD-500 engine mentioned in the above specification. No less than 310 were produced and shipped to Soviet-backed Eastern European countries.

The Yak-23 would eventually be replaced by the more powerful MiG-15 jet-powered delta-wing aircraft, marking the end of the post-war Soviet barrel-aircraft design.