Yakovlev Yak-23

The Yakovlev Yak-23 may be regarded as the culmination of the Yak-15 basic design with underslung engines, though in this refined development the tricycle landing gear was fully retractable into internal bays.

Series Designation: Yakovlev Yak-23
Model Statistics: Yakovlev Yak-23
Manufacturer: Yakovlev - USSR
Country of Origin: Soviet Union
Service Year: 1947
Classification Type: Lightweight Day Fighter

NATO designation: Flora
Crew Accommodation: 1

DIMENSIONS:

Length: 8.12meters
Wingspan/Width: 8.73 meters
Height: 3.31 meters
Empty Weight: 2000 kilograms
MTOW: 3036 kilograms

PERFORMANCE:

Powerplant: 1 x Klimov RD-500 turbojet engine generating 3,505lbs of thrust.
Maximum Speed: 975 kilometers per hour
Maximum Range: 1200 kilometers
Service Ceiling: 14800 meters
Initial Rate of Climb: 6,693 ft/min (2,041 m/min)

ARMAMENT:

2 x 23mm cannon (nose-mounted)
1 x 132lb bomb

Although the Yakovlev bureau tested a number of barrel-fuselage jet fighter prototypes in the period up to 1951, the main emphasis was on developing the Yak-15 concept to the ultimate as a back-up to the more sophisticated MiG-15. Experimental fighters developed to achieve this aim included the Yakovlev Yak-19 powered by an RD-10F and test flown early in 1947; the Yak-25 with the more powerful RD-500 turbojet which flew in October 1947; the swept-wing Yak-30 whose maiden flight took place in September 1948; and the Yak-50 with a VK-1 engine, flown on 15 July 1949.

All of these remained experimental fighters, but the Yak-23 was developed for series production. The Yak-23 retained the well-tried fuselage layout of the Yak-15 and Yak-17, was of stressed-skin construction and designed for ease of maintenance, the entire forward fuselage being easily removable. The type differed externally from the Yak-17 in having much enlarged vertical tail surfaces, the horizontal surfaces being mounted some way up the fin, and the main landing gear units were set much further inboard with the undercarriage retracting into the lower fuselage.

Reverting to the so-called redan (stepped) configuration of the first Yakovlev jet fighters, the Yak-23 possessed wing and horizontal tail surfaces similar to those of the Yak-19, and was intended to fulfil a requirement for a lightweight day interceptor capable of operating from existing fields. The first of three prototypes of the Yak-23, which were of all-metal stressed-skin construction and powered by imported Rolls-Royce Derwent turbojets, was flown on 17 June 1947. Seen as something of a back-up for the very much more advanced Nene-engined fighters with wing sweep-back then under development, the Yak-23 proved itself an outstandingly agile warplane. Manufacturer's trials were completed on 12 September 1947. State Acceptance testing had been successfully completed before the year's end and series production began in the late spring of 1948. The series Yak-23 was powered by a Soviet copy of the Derwent known as the RD-500 - a designation derived from GAZ-500, the factory in which the engine was produced - and rated at 1590kg.

Termed a "light-weight day fighter", the Yak-23 was armed with two 23mm cannons mounted in the nose - this being the now popular alternative to the machine gun-laced fighter designs of the Second World War. A single 132lb conventional bomb could be carrier under-fuselage as well, adding a hint of multirole capabilities.

Deliveries to the V-VS began early in 1949, by which time the first production examples of the MiG-15 had already flown. In consequence, only two V-VS regiments reportedly re-equipped (from the Yak-17) with the Yak-23, which was quickly released for export. Twelve were delivered to Czechoslovakia during 1950 (and there assigned the designation S101) and the supply of some 95 to Poland began late that year, while, in 1951, 12 each were delivered to Romania and Bulgaria. Both Czechoslovakia and Poland were to have licence-built the Yak-23 but, in the event, manufactured the MiG-15, and Soviet production of the Yakovlev type terminated in 1950 with 310 built. One example was converted by the OKB as a tandem two-seat conversion trainer (Yak-23UTI), this first being flown in the spring of 1949. One Yak-23 was rebuilt as a tandem two-seater in Romania, but the type had given place to the MiG-15 in all Warsaw Pact air forces by the mid-1950s.