Jakovlev Jak-9DD

History:
In 1944, it needed the soviet air force escort fighter that could accompany the bombers Pe-2 and above all Here-2 during their long-distance raids. The range of such jets had to be longer than what was the Yak-9D (1 400 km). OKB AND. With. Yakovlev took as the basis of fighter aircraft How-9M and benefited from the experience, which was with Jake-9D. The resulting piece was vměstnání nine [also](some sources mention eight) fuel tanks in the wings and the fuselage. When you install the must have to save weight, further had to take into account the required volume of the tank and place for their installation, the designers had to go the way of compromise - two tanks so not self-locking packaging.

Combat tests have been carried out in 368. Fighter regiment (IAP), where the aircraft participated in attacks in East Prussia in Szczecin and Berlin. Accompanied the bombers Pe-2 and Tu-2 in their events and when those accompanying years, the pilots of the Yaks clashed with the German FW-190, the fighting took place in low altitudes.

In these tests it was found that the yak-9DD his-range bombers throughout the entire route of the raid, however, basically ended with the enumeration of the good qualities. The yak-9DD was so burdened by fuel and by tanks, that barely managed to keep speed with the fast bombers Tu-2, of course there was a reserve in speed, but then the engine worked inefficient, and again, not enough range. In practice, it looked like if the fighters flew off to repel the attack of enemy fighters, so in one third of cases have already failed the bombers to catch up. How, because of its weight, of course, harder to maneuver and soared, he missed a higher performance engine. Another problem was the large amount of fuel tanks, pilots were concerned about the devadesátilitrové tank under your feet, in the wings of the tanks were nearly over their entire surface and the two end are not protected by the self-clinching packaging. It is therefore not surprising that these remote Yaks pilots receive very restrained and for their little maneuverability, and other characteristics is called "the Flying tank". With regard to the great mass of the aeroplane there were often disturbances of the chassis, fast opotřebovávaly tires, which then often crackled and often occurred even to the rupture of the fork of the rear wheel. Inappropriate were even the flight characteristics during flight is significantly changing the center of gravity, and what in addition - the fuel circuit has been in service prone to supply, it resulted in misfiring. Was offered a solution, which, however, was not taken and the production was after the 399 produced aeroplanes terminated. The solution would be the installation of a more powerful engine such as Klimov VK-105PF-2, aerodynamic improvements (something in the way Yak-9U), the removal of the fuselage tank, and two unprotected design team of tanks and the problem of the necessary amount of fuel could be tackled by additional fuel tanks, which could be throw away, however, not in the wings or under the fuselage, no hangers.

Yak-9DD, however, its fame eventually won. In August 1944, flew a group of 12 Yak-9DD under the leadership of major Even. Also. Ovcharenko at the airport of the Italian city Bari, the navigation on the 1 300 km long route to ensure bn in dvoumotorovém Boston (A-20) in the colors of the USSR. After arrival in Bari here Yaks conducted 155 sorties in support of the yugoslav partisans, each flight meant to double cross the Adriatic sea, often even landing on the Yugoslav territory, was circling at airports, but only on small lawns. What often accompanied the american transport aircraft , which the guerrillas dropped the necessary material. At the airport in Bari, there have been several practice fights with allied fighters, How-DD got into a practice fight with [url=/topic/view/15845/Curtiss-P-40]Warhawkem, Thunderboltem, Kingcobra and Spitfire Mk.IX, As supposedly all these machines surpassed in height to 3 500 m. During this foreign deployment of Yaks on the aeroplanes there were no defect or disorder.
The crew of the Yak-9DD then several times to escort american bombers and [url=/topic/view/16149/Consolidated-B-24-Liberator-overview-version]B-24 Liberator in their raids on the Romanian oil fields. American bombers launched from Bari and after odbombardování landed on the Ukrainian airport, at the town of Poltava, here natankovaly, supplement the cougars and once again bombed another target on the way back.

sources:
Robert Bock, a Monograph Lotnicze 47, yak-7 yak-9, AJ-Press, Gdańsk, 1999, ISBN: 83-7237-019-2
L+K no. 2/1976, Aircraft 39-45, Yakovlev yak-9D & DD
http://www.airwar.ru/enc/fww2/yak9dd.html
author archive.

Fotografie Jaku-9DD