Yakovlev Yak-23

Yakovlev Yak-23
Type:	Fighter plane
Design country:	Soviet Union
Manufacturer:	OKB Yakovlev
First flight:	June 17, 1947
Commissioning:	1948
Production time:	1948 to 1950
Number of pieces:	310

The Jakowlew Jak-23 ( Russian Яковлев Як-23 , NATO code name "Flora" ) from the Jakowlew design office was a single-engine Soviet fighter aircraft . It appeared around the same time as the MiG-15 , but was only produced in far smaller numbers.

Development and use

It was developed from the Jak-19 with a spindle-shaped fuselage. The drive was a more powerful RD-500 - jet engine provided. Since this radial engine, derived from the Rolls-Royce Derwent , was larger than the RD-10F of the Jak-19, it was installed in the front and middle part of the fuselage that tapered towards the stern, as with the Jak-15 and Jak-17 types .

The flight tests took place from June to September 1947 by M. I. Ivanov. Series production ran from March 1948 to 1950 and ended after the 310th machine. A school version was called Jak-23UTI and appeared in a few copies in 1949. The second seat was placed in front of that of the single-seater. The Yak-23 was flown by the Soviet air forces , but also exported, for example to Bulgaria .

Jak-23UTI in Chodynka

In Poland , the model replaced the Jak-9P with piston engine that had been used up until then and became the first jet aircraft in use by the army. It was primarily there until 1956 and was then used as a training aircraft for some time . In 1957, a Polish Jak-23 broke two world records when it climbed to 3000 m in 1:59 min and to 6000 m in 3:07 min. Twelve machines flew in Czechoslovakia
under the designation S-101 ( S tihaci letadla = fighter plane) . The intended license building did not come about, however, because the Soviet Union was now offering the much more advanced MiG-15 aircraft for license building.

The Romanian Air Force was also equipped with this type and even developed its own two-seater school version, the Jak-23D.C. (Doubla Comanda = double tax). In contrast to the Soviet Yak-23UTI, the additional seat was arranged behind that of the single-seater, so that the Soviet and Romanian Yak-23 double-seaters clearly differed from the outside.

The following series Jak-25 , Jak-30 and Jak-50 all remained test fighter aircraft and were not built in series. You can still visit a Jak-23 in the Warsaw Military Museum , in the Aviation Museum in Prague / Kbely and in the Central Museum of the Russian Air Force in Monino.

construction

Jak-23 with additional tanks at the ends of the wing

The Jak-23 was constructed simply and robustly, during maintenance work the entire front part of the fuselage could be dismantled in order to facilitate access to the engine. The aircraft was made entirely of metal, the fuselage was covered with a self-supporting shell.
The wings, which were provided with a laminar profile, were cantilevered and arranged in a middle-deck construction . Due to their small thickness, no fuel tanks could be accommodated in them, so that the Jak-23 usually carried two external tanks at the ends of the wing. The nose landing gear and the main landing gear wheels went into the fuselage during the flight, the struts rested in the wings.
The pilot sat in a non-hermetically sealed cabin and was protected in the neck by an 8 mm armored plate and from the front by a front panel made of 57 mm armored glass. The model was equipped with a catapult seat , an RSI-6M-1 radio and a radio half-compass.
Due to the robust chassis, the Jak-23 could also be used from unpaved grass slopes.

Military users

•  Bulgaria : Bulgarian Air Force - Dec.
•  Poland : Polish Air Force - 100+ (designation G-3). The Polish aircraft with the civil license SP-GLK of the Aviation Institute flew until 1961
•  Romania : Romanian Air Force - 62
•  Soviet Union : Soviet Air Force
•  Czechoslovakia : Czechoslovak Air Force 12 pieces, later possibly 9 additional aircraft, designated as S-101. Retired in 1956.
•  Hungary : Hungarian Air Force

Testing by the USAF

An airplane reached Yugoslavia from Romania in 1953 with a fleeing pilot . From there, on the basis of an agreement, the aircraft came to the USA, was flown there and was apparently returned to Romania via Yugoslavia.

Technical specifications

3-sided view

Parameter	Jak-23	Jak-23UTI
Conception	Fighter plane	Trainer aircraft
span	8.73 m
length	8.12 m	8.33 m
height	3.30 m
Wing area	13.50 m²
Preparation mass	1,980 kg	2,200 kg
Takeoff mass	normal 3,036 kg maximum 3,384 kg	normal 2,950 kg maximum 3,300 kg
Top speed	923 km / h near the ground, 868 km / h at an altitude of 5,000 m	900 km / h near the ground, 875 km / h at an altitude of 5,000 m
Rise time	2.3 min at 5,000 m	k. A.
Summit height	14,800 m	14,000 m
Range	485 km	500 km
drive	an RD-500 turbine air jet engine
power	15.6 kN starting thrust
crew	1 pilot	2 (flight instructor / student pilot)
Armament	two 23 mm MK 150P or two 23 mm MK NR-23K	a 12.7 mm MG UB
Drop ammunition	two 60 kg bombs	-

See also

• List of aircraft types

literature

• Karl-Heinz Eyermann : beam trainer . German Military Publishing House, Berlin 1971, p. 22/23 .
• Wilfried Copenhagen : Soviet fighters . Transpress, Berlin 1985, p. 168/169 .

Web links

Commons : Jakowlew Jak-23  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Jak-23 on airwar.ru (Russian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Yakovlev Yak-23 (NATO: Flora) , Polish Aviation Museum, accessed January 13, 2020
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Yakovlev Yak-23 , plane-encyclopedia
3. ^ Evaluation of the Soviet Yak-23 by USAF