Blackwolfscd,
Is that you going down in a Yakovlev?
Looks like a Yak9 to me, not as bad a plane as most people think really. Yaks and Mustangs got into it by accident once during ww2, neat story.
madda
Claymore,
Yeah, that’s BlackWolfski headin’ towards the deep six in the Black Sea. [:p]
The flight report for Sgt BlackWolfski reads as follows:
Spotting the fascist invaders to my left over the Crimea Penninsula, I ordered the formation to watch for fighters. Off in the distance to the right, I could see another unidentified formation of aircraft.
I engaged the oncoming enemy escort without result and broke through to the bombing force, climbing for a height advantage. After maneuvering into a favourable position, I dove on the fascists and proceeded to knock one of them out of the sky with machine gun fire.
Comrade Petrenko, who had shot down a Bf 109 in a head on pass, was also victorious over a Ju 88. It exploded in a brightly flaming mass of burning flame. However, he was so close that he flew right through the debris and fire, damaging his aircraft. Comrade Petrenko jumped from his plane but I did not observe his parachute to open. Comrade Petrenko died a glorious death in the defense of the Motherland. He will be mourned.
Having encountered the escort yet again, a friendly formation appeared and took over the fight. (The unidentified aircraft from earlier?) I cleared my tail and once again, full of rage at the loss of my close friend and comrade, headed toward the bombers; lining up on a target at about 100 yards I fired, but only a few rounds were expended. I had exhausted most of my ammunition on the escort!
I looked around the sky one more time to see if any of my comrades were near, but there were none. Being alone, I decided to ram one of the fascist invaders and, once again, do my part to defend the Motherland.
The impact was terrific, but I remember little of it. I only recall the horizon spinning wildly and thinking that I must exit this runaway crate.
I was able to abandon my stricken aircraft, my parachute opening only seconds before I came down in the Black Sea. I woke up on a launch and was taken to shore where I was able to gain transport back to the airfield.
Fade to Black…
OH!
Maddafinga,
It was a Yak-7, by the way. Not that great a mount for taking on 109’s but it’ll do for bombers!
And funny you mention the Mustangs and Yaks tangling, I’m doing a bit of research on that right now! March 18th, 1945 was the date and the P-51’s involved were from the 359th FG. I’ve got info on two of the aircraft involved, and am still digging. Small world…
Fade to Black…
Ah, I was close, the 9 is a better mount, but for the Ruskie stuff, I prefer the La5 or 7, great cockpit vis, great cannons, fast, handle well and keep their e beautifully. I remember reading about the ponies and yaks getting into it, but not much in specific, great story though, not many allied craft fought each other. If I remember right, the ponies came out in much better shape. I might have to look some of that up myself, just to bone up on my history. Good stuff.
madda
Yak 7 and 9 were very similar, in fact the 9 was an improved 7 but basically the same airframe.
You should be able to take a 109 without any real problem with the yak actually. It would help to have an idea about which model you’re up against, but it’s not a critical thing. Go straight head to head on the merge, but dive to pick up speed, you want at least 300 mph as you close. Start a lead loop, timing is critical here, you want to be just about vertical as the two of you pass. The yak bleeds it’s e so badly that you can loop faster than just about any other plane, but you’re only using an immelman here, if you time it right, you will merge directly onto his 6. If he sees you and maneuvers, you have just enough speed to double immel, as you drop back down from the second, just roll onto his 6, you can roll faster than he can turn. If he tried to follow you up, and you dove into the merge like you should have, he’ll be stalling, or close to stalling and easy meat. It’s all about the e. If you want to get really serious, read “Fighter combat: tactics and maneuvers” by Robert Shaw. It’s a textbook they use at Miramar, it reads like stereo instructions, but it’s the real deal. Ironically, he quotes Robert Johnson and Randy Cunningham an awful lot in the book. It covers everything, guns to guns, guns to missiles, missiles to missiles, props, jets, heilos, everything.
madda
You mean this one? [:D]
Read it cover to cover when I was a young’n and really into flight sims. Didn’t understand it too well then, but it’s funny how stuff like that sticks in your head and you can decipher it later. Maybe I should read it again! [;)]
Fade to Black…
Baron Freiherr Manfred Albrecht von Richothen…
He didn’t make pizzas or fight Snoopy, he kicked butt…80 times !
HAH! That’s the very one. I have it in my bookshelf this very moment. A wealth of knowledge in there, when I was reading it, I remember thinking “I wish I had a couple of models to work this out, my hands only rotate so far” I gotta start playing sims again.
madda
Figured I better post these.
Yakovlev 7
http://rongeorge.com/modules/Gallery/album04/jak7_1sm
Yakovlev 9
http://rongeorge.com/modules/Gallery/album05/jak9r_1sm
Couldn’t get the pics to post so it’s just links[:(]
Claymore,
Nice stuff. There’s a Ukranian guy in my club and he keeps shoving stuff my way, some of it like those drawings. And I keep saying, “Thanks, but I can’t READ this stuff!”
The photos and drawings are in English, but the text and captions… I gotta learn Russian, I guess…
Fade to Black…
I have over 90 pics aircraft + ships and weapons (airieal and Naval) Including blueprints and builders drawings totaling about a Gig.
Not much difference at all between them, mostly in the canopy as far as I could see. The yak7 is more like a razorback to the 9’s bubbletop.
madda
Billy Barker. 50 some planes, V.C. and nerve, the day he was released from the hospital with his left arm in a sling he took up the prince of Wales and put on an acrobatics show over St Pauls cathedral!!
The extended canopy was for rescues, they would land and the downed pilot would jump in the rear and then they would take off again. The short canopy version had a hatch behind the antenna (item 5 in the image left and below the front view) for another person (image of scrunched person below front view). There is better detail on the drawings I have which are 1/10 scale (resized and comverted to jpeg before uploading).
I’d imagine that they would have to do a bit more rescuing than many other countries, their philosophy seems to have been (and still be for that matter) is just to build as many as possible and hope most of them work. I don’t think I’d have wanted to be a Russian pilot back then, er, or now either for that matter. I just don’t trust their equipment.
madda
Actually, the Yak-7 started life as a trainer designated the UTI-26. It was a development of the I-26 (Yak-1) and was to be an intermediary step between the low-powered UT-2 primary trainer and the higher-powered combat aircraft.
With the chaos created by the German invasion, fighters were needed and aircraft of any type that could be used as a fighter were ordered armed and into combat. The Yakovlev Design Bureau was forced to convert the UTI-26 into a combat aircraft, redesignated as the Yak-7. The few two-seat trainers on the production line at this time were designated Yak-7V (Vyvozonyi - Familiarization).
The first two-seat fighters were designated Yak-7A, armed with a single 20mm cannon and two 12.7mm machine guns. Provisions were also made for the aircraft to carry six rockets or two 220lb bombs.
Subsequently, the instructor’s seat was removed and replaced with an additional fuel tank, giving the Yak-7A increased range, about 510 miles. Because of the extra weight, some changes were made, mostly to the landing gear.
The Yak-7K (Kuryerski - Courier) was a development of the Yak-7V with two seats, but no dual controls. This was used mainly for transporting top-ranking officers and for courier flights.
There were further developments of the Yak-7; the Yak-7B, D, DI and many other sub-variants, but I don’t want to write a novel as I usually do!
The decision to introduce, all at once, a large number of changes and improvements to the Yak-7 design resulted in the designation Yak-9. One of the most significant changes to occur toward the end of Yak-7 production and even moreso into production of the Yak-9 was the introduction of more metal into the structure of the aircraft. This was made possible by the increasing numbers of shipments of steel from the USA.
The Yak-9 could be considered a greatly improved Yak-7, but ultimately it’s hard to draw lines because of the continual stream of changes and improvements made. The late Yak-7’s were, indeed, very close to the Yak-9 in appearance. But I see the Yak-9 as being a totally different aircraft than the vast majority of Yak-7’s.
Doesn’t matter, though. I like 'em all!
Fade to Black…
This is how I look at it also and I look at the A-36 Apache/P-51 Mustang the same way, sorta.
Exactly! The Apaches and the early Mustangs really were different airplanes than the P-51B.
There’s the obvious; the Allison and Merlin engines. But many systems in both aircraft were different as well, some as a result of the change of powerplant but some as a result of the fact that they needed imrovement or replacing.
Wait a minute… we should start a new thread here! [;)]
Fade to Black…