Yakovlev Yak-18
The Yakovlev Yak-18 (NATO reporting name "Max") was a Soviet tandem two-seat primary trainer that entered service in 1946 and became the standard trainer of the Soviet Air Force and the DOSAAF aero clubs. Originally powered by a Shvetsov M-11 radial, it was redesigned with tricycle landing gear as the Yak-18A, built under licence in China as the Nanchang CJ-5 (379 built), flown by North Korea as a night harassment bomber in the Korean War, and developed into single-seat aerobatic versions that won world championships in 1966 and 1970. About 40 originals are estimated to survive.
Why It Mattered
The Yak-18 became the standard trainer for Soviet Air Force flying schools and for DOSAAF, the society that sponsored aero clubs throughout the USSR, and it was the aircraft on which Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, received his initial flight training. It was designed to replace the earlier Yakovlev UT-2 and Yak-5 in Soviet service. Few trainers have been used so far outside their intended role: North Korea flew the type as a night bomber during the Korean War, and its single-seat aerobatic versions won world championships in 1966 and 1970.
Design Notes
Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev, best known for fighter designs, initiated the design in May 1945, developing the new trainer from his wartime UT-2. The original aircraft was a low-wing monoplane with tandem seating, powered by a 160 hp Shvetsov M-11 five-cylinder radial engine. Its main landing gear retracted pneumatically while the tailwheel remained fixed; Planes of Fame notes the retractable gear was provided so that student pilots learned to operate a complex aircraft. It proved exceptionally easy to build and maintain. The Yak-18U, built in small numbers, introduced retractable tricycle landing gear, and the cleaned-up Yak-18A that followed it, powered by a 260 hp Ivchenko AI-14 engine, was built in large numbers. Single-seat aerobatic versions, the Yak-18P and the tricycle-gear Yak-18PM, were produced for the flying clubs.
Operational History
The Yak-18 entered service in 1946, and the original model was built by Yakovlev until 1956. It became the standard trainer for Air Force flying schools and DOSAAF, and was in wide use in China and in many other countries. From 1950 the aircraft was exported to China in kit form, and in 1954 China began building licence copies as the Nanchang CJ-5; 379 CJ-5s had been built when that production ended in 1958. In the Korean War, North Korean aircraft were fitted with bomb racks on the wing centre section and used after dark against UN troop locations, dropping bombs to harass the forces below. Planes of Fame records that these "Bed Check Charlie" missions caused no significant military damage, though they kept soldiers from sleeping. Wikipedia calls the single most successful North Korean air attack of the war a June 1953 strike in which four or five Yak-18s destroyed a fuel dump near Inchon. The type also set an international speed record for its class in 1951. In aerobatics, Vladimir Martemianov won the world championship at Moscow in 1966 and Igor Egorov won at Hullavington in 1970, both flying the single-seat Yak-18PM.
Afterlife
Wikipedia estimates that about 40 original Yak-18s still exist worldwide, five of them currently flyable in the United States and three in Europe. Many survivors are found in major aviation museums, including the National Air and Space Museum in the USA; Planes of Fame Air Museum displays a Yak-18A built in 1958 as a static exhibit. Two later aircraft with similar names are not Yak-18s: the Yak-18T was designed from scratch some 20 years later, and China's Nanchang CJ-6, sometimes quoted as a variant, is a completely different aircraft designed in China. Photographs taken during a March 2014 visit by Kim Jong-Un to a North Korean air force base suggest the country may still keep original Yak-18s or CJ-5s for bombing.