1/72 KP Yakovlev Yak-23

by Oliver Weston

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The Yak-23 was developed as a simple lightweight jet fighter, on Yakovlev's own initiative. It was a development of the 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 V turbojet engine, produced as the klimov RD-500. It first flew on July 8th 1947. After successful flights, it underwent state trials in 1948 and was accepted for series production. It was evaluated as highly maneuverable, with good acceleration, take-off and climb capabilities thanks to its high thrust-to-weight ratio. Faults were poor directional stability at speeds around Mach 0.86 and lack of cockpit pressurization. Despite being one of the best straight-wing jet fighters, it was inferior to new swept wing designs.

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The Aircraft depicted here is the one flown by the Polish pilot Andrzej Abłamowicz. Who on the 21st of September 1957 set two FIA "time to height" world records climbing to 3000m in 119 seconds and 6000m in 197 seconds. The unusual thing about this aircraft is that it had a civilian registration SP-GLK and was owned and operated by the Polish institute of Advanced Aeronatics (I think). The model is pictured with wing tip tanks, these were of course removed for the record attempt. This aircraft was withdrawn in 1961 being possibly the last Yak-23 used in the world!

Built out of the box, this is pretty much standard KP fair. Bit rough round the edges but who cares! The only scratch built bit's were a couple of antennas and the radio wires (thin fishing line). Great fun to build and an interesting subject too boot!

Happy Modelling!

Oliver

Photos and text © by Oliver Weston