CN225.A16X2
Yak-11 'Moose' WW-II fighter. #27.
The Yakovlev design bureau began work on an advanced trainer based on the successful Yak-3 fighter in mid-1944, although the trainer was of low priority owing to the ongoing Second World War. The pilot and observer sat in tandem under a long canopy with separate sliding hoods. A single synchronised UBS 12.7 mm machine gun and wing racks for two 100 kg bombs comprised the aircraft's armament. An improved prototype flew in 1946, with revised cockpits and a modified engine installation with the engine mounted on shock absorbing mounts. This aircraft successfully passed state testing in October 1946, with production beginning at factories in Saratov and Leningrad in 1947. Production Yak-11s were heavier than the prototypes, with later batches fitted with non-retractable tailwheels and revised propellers. A 7.62 mm ShKAS machine gun was sometimes fitted instead of the UBS, while some were fitted with rear-view periscopes above the windscreen. In total, Soviet production amounted to 3,859 aircraft between 1947 and 1955. with a further 707 licence-built by Let in Czechoslovakia as the C-11. The Yak-11 set five world-class records. [Wikipedia]
Photo by Bob Nelson on Saturday, July 22, 2006 at the Grand Forks Air Force Base.