The Russian Yakovlev Yak-9D fighter planes, the 3rd Squadron of the 6th GvIAP Force of the Black Sea Fleet of the Red Navy of the Soviet Union during Second World War. The Eastern Front.
Piloted:
Yakovlev Yak-9D fighter plane № “22” – Hero of the Soviet Union Mikhail Ivanovich Grib (17 personally downed aircraft);
Yakovlev Yak-9D fighter plane № “31” – Vladimir Voronov;
Yakovlev Yak-9D fighter plane № “26” – Hero of the Soviet Union Belozerov, Ivan Pavlovich (8 personally downed aircraft until April 1944);
Yakovlev Yak-9D fighter plane № “30” – V. Akulov.
Place: Sevastopol
Time taken: May 1944
Author: Eugene Khaldey
Yak-9D is a Soviet single-engine fighter-bomber of the Great Patriotic War. A design bureau was developed under the control of A. S. Yakovlev. It was the most massive Soviet fighter of the Great Patriotic War. Produced from October 1942 to December 1948, a total of 16,769 aircraft were built (from 1942 to 1945 – 14,579 aircraft).
The Yak-9D was a natural continuation of the Yak-1 and Yak-7 fighters. From a constructive point of view, it was a further development of the Yak-7. Not much different from him in appearance, the Yak-9 at the same time was in all respects more perfect. This is natural, since the creation of this aircraft took into account almost two years of experience in the production and combat use of the Yak-1, and there was the possibility of a wider use of duralumin, in which the country no longer experienced such great difficulties as at the beginning of the war. The use of metal made it possible, in particular, to significantly reduce the mass of the structure, and use the gain either to increase the fuel supply or to equip the aircraft with more powerful weapons and more diverse special equipment.
The Yak-9D was produced at three large factories (No. 82 in Moscow, No. 153 in Novosibirsk and No. 166 in Omsk), took part in all operations of the Soviet Army, starting from the Battle of Stalingrad. The aircraft was extremely simple in design and adapted for production in wartime conditions. Almost all the materials from which it was built were produced in the places where it was made. All modifications of the fighter had excellent flight performance, did not have significant design or operational defects leading to accidents.
Yak-9 became the most massive fighter of the Soviet Air Force during the Great Patriotic War. In the middle of 1944, the Yak-9, Yak-9T and Yak-9D aircraft, in total, were more than all other fighters in service, taken together, and they largely replaced the Yak-1 and Yak-7B on the main fronts. The production of the Yak-9 at plant number 153 reached 20 aircraft per day.
The first production aircraft was the Yak-9 with the M-105PF engine. The Yak-9 with the M-105PF engine and the VISH-61P propeller was a front-line fighter. It was a serial aircraft, the prototype for which was a lightweight version of the Yak-7DI aircraft. The Yak-9 had a number of differences from the last, the main of which are as follows: the fuel supply and the number of gas tanks were reduced, respectively, from 500 kg and four tanks to 320 kg and two tanks (on the Yak-7DI in a lightweight version, two console tanks were not filled, on serial Yak -9 they were absent); oil reserve reduced from 50 to 26…30 kg; removed bomb racks for external suspension of bombs.
The armament of the Yak-9 was similar to the Yak-7DI – one ShVAK motor-cannon with 120 rounds of ammunition and one (left) UBS synchronous machine gun with 200 rounds of ammunition. The flight weight compared to the lighter version of the Yak-7DI increased to 2870 … 2875 kg, which was mainly due to a lower production culture and less stringent mass control at serial plants compared to the pilot production of A. S. Yakovlev Design Bureau.
For the first time, the Yak-9 took part in hostilities during the Soviet counteroffensive near Stalingrad in the second half of December 1942.
The Yak-9 was very maneuverable in both vertical and horizontal planes, easy to operate. For example, in a battle on the verticals, the Yak-9 entered the tail of the Me-109F after the very first combat turn, and in a battle on the horizontals, after 3-4 turns of the turn.
In June 1943, in the Kursk region, on serial Yak-9 aircraft, due to the lack of mastery of production technology, there were several cases of separation of the wooden sheathing from the wing frame in flight. This defect was eliminated as it appeared by the brigades of the Design Bureau and serial factories directly in the combat units. In May 1944, on the Yak-9M and subsequent modifications, this defect was finally eliminated.
Design
All fighter planes created in the design bureau of A.S. Yakovlev during the Great Patriotic War, represent a further development of the Yak-1 fighter. The Yak-9D was designed on the basis of the Yak-7 and Yak-1. The Yak-9D is a single-seat, single-engine piston monoplane with a low-lying cantilever wing and a retractable tricycle landing gear in flight. The aircraft had a mixed design, parts, components and assemblies were made of wood, duralumin, plywood and linen.
The fuselage is a frame of a truss structure welded from chromansile pipes. A motor mount was attached to the front of the frame. In the front part, the frame was sheathed with duralumin sheets, the tail section was sheathed with canvas. The cockpit was located in the central part of the fuselage. The cockpit canopy in the front and rear was protected by armored glass, and the central part was movable and resettable. An armor plate was installed behind the back of the pilot’s seat.
The wing is one-piece, two-spar. The power set of the wing – duralumin spars, wooden ribs and stringers. Sheathing working, plywood. From above, the skin was pasted over with a canvas on epoxy glue. Wing mechanization – ailerons and brake flaps. The ailerons had a metal frame and fabric sheathing. From the bottom, in the middle part of the wing, a brake flap was suspended on a ramrod loop. The ailerons were controlled by rods, the brake flaps were controlled by a pneumatic system. Fuel tanks were located in the wing.