Yakovlev Yak-23

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The Yakovlev Yak-23 (NATO designation Flora) was a jet fighter developed in the USSR.

Yak-23 in Muzeum Orla Bialego in Poland

History

The Yak-23 was developed as a simple lightweight jet fighter, on Yakovlev's own initiative. It was a development of earlier Yak-15 and Yak-17 fighters, retaining their non-conventional layout with a jet engine in the fuselage nose and exhaust under the cockpit, but the construction was all new. The Yak-23 used a Soviet copy of the British Rolls-Royce Derwent turbojet engine, produced as the RD-500. It first flew on July 8, 1947. After successful flights, it underwent state trials in 1948 and was accepted for series production. It was evaluated as highly maneuverable, with a good acceleration and take-off and climb capabilities thanks to high thrust-to-weight ratio. Faults were poor directional stability at speeds around Mach 0.8 and lack of cockpit pressurization. Despite being one of the best straight-wing jet fighters, it was inferior to new swept-wing designs.

The first aircraft were produced in a factory in Tbilisi in October 1949. In late 1949 they entered Soviet air force service, and were also ordered for export in 1949–50. The Yak-23 was quickly replaced with more complicated swept-wing MiG-15, which offered superior performance. In total, only 310 Yak-23 aircraft were built before production ended in 1950. Apart from the fighter, the Yak-23UTI two-seat trainer was developed, with an instructor's cockpit extended towards nose, but only a small series was produced.

Small numbers of Yak-23 were exported to Czechoslovakia (21, named S-101), Bulgaria, Poland (about 100), Romania, Hungary, Albania. Poland and Czechoslovakia acquired licence of Yak-23, but didn't start production in favour of the MiG-15. Yak-23s were withdrawn by the late 1950s. They were not used in combat. A single Yak-23 was stolen by US intelligence in 1953 and evaluated in the USA.

Specifications (Yak-23)

General characteristics

Crew: one
Length: 8.12 m (26 ft 8 in)
Wingspan: 8.73 m (28 ft 8 in)
Height: 3.31 m (10 ft 10 in)
Wing area: 13.50 m² (145 ft²)
Empty: 1,980 kg (4,356 lb)
Loaded: 3,384 kg (7,445 lb)
Maximum takeoff: kg ( lb)
Powerplant: 1 x Tumansky RD-500 turbojet, 15.6 kN (3,498 lbf) thrust

Performance

Maximum speed: 923 km/h (577 mph)
Range: 1,400 km (875 miles)
Service ceiling: 14,800 m (48,500 ft)
Rate of climb: 13,450 m/min (44,116 ft/min)
Wing loading: 251 kg/m² (51 lb/ft²)
Thrust-to-weight ratio: 4.6 N/kg (0.47 lbf/lb)

Armament

2x 23 mm Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 cannon (later, 2x NR-23) with 90 rounds each