V.G. Ferrain and M.V. Krasnoglyadova - Yak-9 A Description (1944)(Ebook)

V.G. Ferrain and M.V. Krasnoglyadova - Yak-9, Technical Description

The Yak-9 aircraft designed by Lieutenant General T. Yakovlev of the Aeronautical Engineering Department is a modern fighter aircraft built to meet the requirements of patriotic warfare. The aircraft is easy to operate and does not require high pilot qualifications.

By design, the Yak-9 aircraft is a single-engine monoplane with a low cantilever wing, and a retractable landing gear.

The armament of the aircraft includes the synchronous UBS machine gun and the MP-20 engine cannon firing through the hollow shaft of the engine gearbox, the electric fire control of the weapon and the electro-pneumatic machine gun.

The first Yak-9s arrived in combat units to take part in the Soviet counteroffensive following the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1943. They quickly became a major fighter of the VVS. It was relatively equivalent to the Bf-109Gs and the Fw-190As, although generally slower, but more maneuverable. It was mainly used for aerial combat and in particular for the destruction of German bombers, the 37 mm shells having a devastating effect.

The Yak-9 was among others the aircraft of the French Normandy-Niemen Fighter Group and the 1st Polish Fighter Regiment. It served as a mount for many aces, such as Alexander Pokryshin with 59 victories, Grigori Retchakov with 56 and Dimitri Glinka with 50. The Yak-9DDs of the 236th Fighter Division (IAD) provided escort to the American bombers attacking the oil fields in Romania. They supported the Yugoslav partisans for some time, operating from Bari in Italy.

The Yak-9 was employed by the North Koreans, who owned 79 of them, during the early Korean War. The Yak-9 equipped many Warsaw Pact air forces.

A total of 16,769 Yak-9s were built up to 1948, of which 14,579 were built during the Second World War.

Published by Oborongiz in 1944

108 pages - in Russian