Yakovlev Yak-50 (1949)

History

Around mid-February 1949, Soviet Air Force (VVS) officials called for the development of a new light all-weather jet engine day/night interceptor, and several of the better-known OKBs of the Soviet era followed this call - Lavochkin, Mikoyan Gurevich (MiG), Sukhoi and Yakovlev (Yak). All three played a vital role in defending the Soviet Empire during World War II (1939-1945) by providing a powerful propeller fighter type.

However, interest in jet fighters and bombers increased markedly in the post-war years, and all major players in the world were forced to expand their R&D departments in response.

For the new requirement, the aircraft will have radar, presumably in the nose, and the weapon will be a cannon. Of course, speed is a beneficial attribute for an aircraft, as is a healthy rate of climb to respond to a potential approach threat as quickly as possible.

The engine of choice became the Klimov VK-1 series turbojet - a Soviet replica of the British Rolls-Royce "Nene" - which was already widely used in the Soviet Air Force's MiG-15 and MiG-17 series of fighter jets.

Yakovlev submitted the Yak-50 to the competition, and all four contestants were given prototypes to justify their designs. Yakovlev engineers opted for a mid-wing monoplane with swept wings. Three boundary layer fences are placed above each wing main aircraft. The rear wing also includes a swept surface, a structure consisting of a vertical rear wing with a horizontal surface connected in the middle. The fuselage is roughly tubular and houses avionics, fuel and other mission-related components.

The cockpit is located forward amidships and the canopy is largely unobstructed, providing excellent visibility outside the cockpit. The sole engine unit was buried in the fuselage and sucked in through a nose-mounted bifurcated (split) air intake, with ducts running below the cockpit floor. A small nose cone protrudes above the air intake and is designed to accommodate radar installations. The engine exits through an opening in the aircraft's tail at the base of the empennage.

The landing gear has a bicycle-like arrangement and is fully retractable - this arrangement consists of two juxtaposed main legs extending under the fuselage, with smaller outboard support legs held under the wings at the wingtips.

Suggested weapons are 2 x 23mm Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 series guns with 80 rounds each. The gun is mounted under the nose, the barrel is only partially visible. The radar equipment was supposed to become the AI ??system Korshun ("kites").

Interestingly, Yakovlev's engineers opted to power their aircraft with just one engine, while their competitors went the route of a twin-engine design - with added complexity and weight at the expense of improved performance and survivability. Yakovlev noted further weight savings through the extensive use of magnesium alloys in the fuselage structure. The Yak-50 was completed as previously described and made its first flight on July 15, 1949. Testing has shown that this is a promising design, and has eventually (and repeatedly) achieved Mach 1+ speeds in shallow water diving. However, the accuracy of the shot decreases at higher speeds, and control in crosswinds becomes a significant drawback.

In ground walking tasks, especially on wet surfaces, the bicycle landing gear also produced a rather unwieldy aircraft.

Despite work on the new requirements, Soviet officials moved the radar-equipped model MiG-17P ("Izumrud" system) to one of the proposed interceptors. The Yak-50 was renamed by Yakovlev, this time to cover the development of the 1975 Yak-50 - a basic trainer platform of which more than 300 of these were produced.

Specification

Basic

Production

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Performance

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Changes