Airplane Yak-36: specifications and photos

Soviet aircraft construction is a matter of pride not only disappeared from the map of the Soviet Union, but also modern engineers who are the heirs of their illustrious predecessors. In this article there will be a speech about a unique aircraft. This aircraft Yak-36, the characteristics of which will be considered in detail.

Prehistory

The very idea of creating a unique aircraft that would have a vertical take-off and landing appeared long before the creation of the aircraft and was realized in the form of a helicopter. Production of the same aircraft with similar helicopter properties dragged on for many years. The main reason for the delay in the creation of such a vessel was that in it the specific weight of all power plants was too great and the power would be small. As a result, from the dead point the matter shifted only in the 1940s, when the light was seen by turbojet engines. From engineering thought and tests at the stand before the creation of this aircraft passed a period equal to two decades.

Authors

One of the pioneers in this direction of aircraft construction was an engineer named Shulikov, who in 1947 suggested using a special rotary nozzle of a turbojet engine (TRD), which was later installed on a Yak-36 plane.

Somewhat later the designer Shcherbakov developed the project and began to test the model of the aircraft on the flight stand, which took off vertically and did not have a wing, but was equipped with a pair of rotary turbojet engines mounted on the lateral surfaces of the fuselage. But the absence of the wing caused a storm of indignation in the engineering environment, which put an end to the continuation of this project.

Yakovlev Design Bureau

OKB-115 turned out to be the most successful team, which was engaged in the creation of vertically taking off planes, the leader of which was the legendary Alexander Sergeevich Yakovlev. This engineer in 1960 proposed the development of the Yak-104. On this aircraft it was planned to install two forced engines P19-300, which were to be used as lifting and moving elements. Their thrust was 1600 kgf. The lifting motor had to be one motor. The developers planned that with a flying mass of 2,800 kilograms and a 600-kilogram fuel reserve, the car would fly at a top speed of 550 km / h and rise to a height of 10,000 meters. At the same time, the flight range would be 500 kilometers, and its duration would be one hour and ten minutes.

Yak-B Project

In April 1961, the Council of Ministers drafted a fully-fledged draft for the creation of a single-seat bomber aircraft with a pair of P21-300 engines (each weighing 5,000 kgf). This was already the Yak-36. The vessel was to have a flight speed of 1100-1200 km / h at an altitude of 1000 meters. At the same time, weight during take-off should not be more than 9,150 kilograms.

For faster development of the stabilization system and control system, checking the functionality of the Yak-36 rotary jet nozzle, proposals were made to perform tests of the prototype bomber with the existing turbojet engines P21-300, which had a thrust index of 4200 kgf. In parallel, the machine was provided with rotating nozzles. This document was published on October 30, 1961.

The development of the Yak-36 was led by S. G. Mordovin. Also involved were engineers: Sidorov, Pavlov, Bekirbaev, Gorshkov.

The working process

Creation of a new generation aircraft took place at a time when the United Kingdom could already boast such an aircraft, Harrier, which was equipped with a single turbo engine and two pairs of swivel nozzles. However, Soviet engineers went their way, somewhat different from the western one.

Considering the purpose of the Yak-36 aircraft and what engines it was equipped with, it is not surprising that in the nose and tail sections of the fuselage of the car, jet rudders with colossal thrust were installed. One of them had to be put forward at a fairly long bar. And all because the task of these rudders was not only to control the management of aircraft in transient modes, but also to ensure the ideal balance of the vessel during static hovering. As for the engines themselves, they were installed on the nose of the aircraft, and the nozzles were placed at the center of gravity of the Yak-36.

Features of the machine

The described arrangement of the power drive of the aircraft has led to the need to use a bicycle-type chassis with a single-wheel support on the nose and a two-wheel support at the rear. Supports of the wings were retracted in the direction opposite to the flight direction of the Yak-36, and were located in the fairings. On the right fairing was installed a highly sensitive air pressure receiver with special sensors for the angles of sliding and attack. The very design of the airframe was quite typical for aircraft of those years: the fuselage was made semi-monocoque, and the spar wing was equipped with flaps.

Security

Developing the Yak-36 aircraft, the photo of which is given in the article, the engineers had no idea what the vessel would behave during the flight (it would fall apart during take-off, or other force majeure circumstances would arise). In this regard, to ensure the safety of the pilot during various contingencies, the aircraft was provided with a forced bailout device. Also, the aircraft had a system of full automatic control during the flight speed, tending to zero.

Production and testing of the aircraft

The first four vessels were built in a factory located on Leningradsky Prospekt of Moscow. One of these aircraft served to test the model for strength. In the spring of 1963, on the aircraft number 36, tests were carried out aimed at checking the degree of engine protection against penetration of the reflected stream of the jet into them, as well as resource tests. For this purpose, the Yak-36 attack aircraft was equipped with two gas shields, one of which was mounted on the nose, and the second - before the nozzles of the turbo engine.

The second car with the onboard number 37 worked only landing and take-off. Initially, the height was half a meter, and a little later this figure was already 5 meters. For two years, 85 training hangs were performed. On June 25, 1963, the ship got into an accident: there was a chassis failure during the vertical landing due to the high slip.

The third aircraft (board number 38) helped check the efficiency of the jet rudders, the autopilot system and controls located in the cockpit. The developers selected air flow rates that allowed the aircraft to be stable during hovering and made the car fully under the pilot's control.

Identified difficulties

As practice showed, the most difficult thing was to implement the vertical landing. Two test pilots had different opinions about the aircraft. So, the pilot Garnaev believed that the landing should be carried out only on a helicopter type, that is, the car had to be planted from a great height with a preliminary repayment of the speed of movement. In turn, the pilot Mukhin had a different opinion. He said that in the helicopter support is provided by the rotor, while on the Yak-36 this function at different stages of flight is guaranteed by the wing and gas jets of the engines. Therefore, it was necessary to take into account the moment of transfer of the lift from the wing directly to the power plant. And so the landing had to be calculated according to the height indicator, which would correspond to the height of the traffic in a circle. As a result, it was Mukhin who was right.

Flight testing

The hovering of the Yak-36 was carried out at a height of half a meter above the pit, which was closed with a steel grating. This was done to reduce the level of interference of gas jets. However, making sure that the ship is capable of taking off vertically, they soon abandoned the grid and switched to a firm underlying surface. And here there were problems. At the moment when the chassis broke away from the runway, the plane began to tremble violently and it fell to the side. In parallel with this, the power of the gas rudders was sorely lacking.

To determine the thrust of the engines, the aircraft had to be fixed on the scales. Designers in their studies moved very slowly, almost at a snail's pace. Sometimes it happened that a multitone aircraft was rocking in the air so that almost did not obey the commands of the pilot. Tame the plane was possible after it was possible to exclude the ingress of gas flow into the air intake device. This led to the fact that the aircraft was pressed to the ground and became controllable.

First flight

The Yak-36, which has a history of more than a decade, was the first to make a full flight on July 27, 1964. However, to lift the ship into the air, Mukhin performed the take-off and the run, since no one had predicted his behavior in the air. Most likely, it was after this test that all three cars were modified, which was concluded in the installation of two ventral keels on each of them.

Two months later, the first full hovering of the aircraft took place. Mukhin mastered the machine so much that he even allowed himself to throw the handle of control at this moment of flight, and the plane was hanging in place without any deviations.

Everything went to the fact that it was possible to perform full-fledged flights. However, to do this, I had to work hard for another year and a half. On February 7, 1966, Mukhin carried out a vertical take-off, made a flight along a circular trajectory and boarded an airplane. On March 24, the pilot carried out a vertical takeoff, a circular flight and a vertical landing. It is this day that is considered the birthday of the domestic aircraft, which has the possibility of vertical take-off.

Technical indicators

The aircraft in question had a small payload, and therefore the design bureau developed a modernized Yak-36M model, which, after acceptance for service, received the Yak-38 marking. The new vessel had a slightly different layout, which proved to be much better in practice.

The Yak-36 aircraft, the technical characteristics of which are indicated below, became a real breakthrough in the domestic aircraft industry. So, the technical data are as follows:

• The length of the vessel is 16.4 m.
• The wing span is 10 m.
• The height of the car is 4.3 m.
• The area of the wing is 17 square kilometers. M.
• The weight of the empty vessel is 5400 kg.
• The take-off weight is 9400 kg.
• The engine is 2 х ТРД Р27В-300.
• Unbearing thrust - 2 x 5000 kgf.
• The limiting speed at the altitude is 1100 km / h.
• The maximum speed near the ground is 900 km / h.
• The real ceiling is 11000 m.
• Crew - 1 person.
• Weapons - combat load up to 2000 kg. UR air-to-air P-60M, NUR, bombs.

Training model

The Yak-18T aircraft was developed back in 1964. During the years of its use, it underwent some changes, and in 2006 the government of the Russian Federation decided to resume the serial production of the Yak-18T (series 36). This aircraft is used in training purposes for training cadets flying universities.

Yak-18T 36-series has the following features:

• It is equipped with an air three-bladed propeller of the series AB-803-1-K.
• The instrument panel underwent a major change.
• The range of the real flight was increased and additional tanks of 180 liters each in the quantity of two pieces were mounted.
• The doors in the cockpit are refined.
• The heating system is strengthened (the second heater is installed).
• The firewall was made of stainless steel.
• Used fuel - gasoline "Premium-95".

This aircraft was exhibited at various international exhibitions of aviation equipment (MAKS-2007 and MAKS-2009).

The regulations established that this aircraft should work without accident to 3,500 hours or 15,000 landings without any calendar restrictions.