Яковлев Як-27: Советский сверхзвуковой самолет-разведчик

Soviet Air Force jet aircraft

The Yakovlev Yak 27 (NATO reporting name "Flashlight C") was a family of Soviet supersonic aircraft developed in 1958 from the Yak 121 prototype. The most built variant was the tactical reconnaissance Yak 27R (NATO reporting name "Mangrove").

The Yak 121 prototype was developed as a successor to the Yak 25 family and it became the base for the Yak 27 family of supersonic interceptor and tactical reconnaissance aircraft. The Yak 27 and Yak 27K interceptors, armed with guns and K 8 missiles respectively, reached or exceeded their requirements, but were overtaken in performance by the Sukhoi Su 9, and so production was not authorized. A high altitude interceptor version, the Yak 27V, was converted from the Yak 121 prototype by fitting a 1,300 kg•f (2,866 lb•f) Dushkin S 155 rocket booster in the rear fuselage, and Tumansky RD 9AKYe afterburning turbojets. Although performance was very good, reaching the height of 23,000 m (75,400 ft) during trials, development was halted due to maintenance problems of the Dushkin S 155 rocket engine. The dedicated high altitude photo reconnaissance variant of the Yak 27 interceptor was named Yak 27R (NATO designation "Mangrove"). The radome and radar were replaced with a glazed nose for an observer/navigator, two cameras were added, and the Nudelman Rikhter NR 23 cannon was deleted from the port board. It had a longer wing with a span of 11.82 m (38 ft 9 in), with two Tumansky RD 9AF turbojet engines and a top speed of about 1,285 km/h (798 mph) at high altitude. It had a service ceiling of 16,500 m (54,000 ft) and a range of 2,380 km (1,480 mi) with two wing tanks. About 180 aircraft were produced in Plant No.292 in Saratov.

The Yak 27R entered service with the Soviet Air Force in 1960 and was intended to replace the subsonic Ilyushin Il 28 reconnaissance aircraft. However, despite the greater speed and ceiling, it had less range. The Yak 27R also had some operational limitations and was flown at supersonic speed only by the most experienced pilots. The low position of the engines made them prone to foreign object ingestion from unimproved forward base runways. With the increasing coverage of anti aircraft missiles over Europe, the high altitude Yak 27R was often more limited than the Il 28. The Yak 27R was withdrawn from operational service in the early 1970s, and was replaced by the Yak 28R and the MiG 25R.

A Yak 27R is preserved at the Central Air Force Museum at Monino, outside of Moscow, Russia. There are also another two airframes preserved in Germany, one at Hugo Junkers Museum Dessau and the other at Speyer Technic Museum, however the latter is in poor condition.