Shortround6
Major General
Wing guns and ammo were very close to the CG, unlike some other suggestions made on this forum. Difference in roll response would be much more marked.
Yaks can get very confusing as there were at least two fuselage lengths, not including the Yak-3.
From Wiki...."the UTI-26 (Yak-7) differed from its predecessor in its larger span wing being placed farther back for balance as well as having two cockpits with dual controls and a rudimentary communication system."
Italics are mine.
And "Yak-9 variants carried two different wings, five different engines, six different fuel tank combinations and seven types of armament configurations."
The bomber versions had the bomb bay in what was the rear seat of the trainer. I am sure there were CG problems but less that trying to convert a plane that was designed/built as a single seater. The big cannon versions moved the front cockpit back about 16 inches (1/2 way between front and rear cockpits?) to allow room for the cannon (you don't convert early single seaters in the field to the big cannon).
This wide variety of Yaks, even of the same basic number, makes comparisons very difficult as most of the engine variations were experimental or troop trials, which in Russia could be over 100 aircraft. Russians once built over 100 planes with either the M-106 or M-107 engine and after brief flying trials, parked them while they tried to sort out the engine, then they gave up and refitted the planes with the standard M-105PF.
We also get stuff like this
"The first unit to use the Yak-9U, between 25 October and 25 December 1944, was 163.IAP. Pilots were ordered not to use the engine at combat speed since this reduced its life to two or three flights only. Nevertheless, in the course of 398 sorties, the unit claimed 27 Focke-Wulf Fw 190As and one Bf 109G-2, for the loss of two Yaks in dogfights, one to flak and four in accidents. The Yak-9U contributed greatly to Soviet air superiority, and the Germans avoided the Yaks "without antenna mast. "
Now according to some of our posters the P-51 just came in and cleaned up the scraps of the Luftwaffe in from Feb 1944 on. If that was even remotely true then the first combat use of the Yak-9U would have been against the very bottom of the barrel dregs of the Luftwaffe 9-10 months later. If the Yak-9U in the hands of one, two or even 3 fighter groups/regiments in the winter of 1944/45 contributed greatly to Soviet air superiority, one wonders just how superior the Russians were to the dregs of the Luftwaffe when flying older Yak-9s or LA-5 & 7s?
I am also AMAZED at the eyesight of these poorly trained, green German pilots who can pick out such details as the position of oil coolers and the presence of a radio mast at hundreds (if not a thousand) meters, in time to avoid combat.
Yaks can get very confusing as there were at least two fuselage lengths, not including the Yak-3.
From Wiki...."the UTI-26 (Yak-7) differed from its predecessor in its larger span wing being placed farther back for balance as well as having two cockpits with dual controls and a rudimentary communication system."
Italics are mine.
And "Yak-9 variants carried two different wings, five different engines, six different fuel tank combinations and seven types of armament configurations."
The bomber versions had the bomb bay in what was the rear seat of the trainer. I am sure there were CG problems but less that trying to convert a plane that was designed/built as a single seater. The big cannon versions moved the front cockpit back about 16 inches (1/2 way between front and rear cockpits?) to allow room for the cannon (you don't convert early single seaters in the field to the big cannon).
This wide variety of Yaks, even of the same basic number, makes comparisons very difficult as most of the engine variations were experimental or troop trials, which in Russia could be over 100 aircraft. Russians once built over 100 planes with either the M-106 or M-107 engine and after brief flying trials, parked them while they tried to sort out the engine, then they gave up and refitted the planes with the standard M-105PF.
We also get stuff like this
"The first unit to use the Yak-9U, between 25 October and 25 December 1944, was 163.IAP. Pilots were ordered not to use the engine at combat speed since this reduced its life to two or three flights only. Nevertheless, in the course of 398 sorties, the unit claimed 27 Focke-Wulf Fw 190As and one Bf 109G-2, for the loss of two Yaks in dogfights, one to flak and four in accidents. The Yak-9U contributed greatly to Soviet air superiority, and the Germans avoided the Yaks "without antenna mast. "
Now according to some of our posters the P-51 just came in and cleaned up the scraps of the Luftwaffe in from Feb 1944 on. If that was even remotely true then the first combat use of the Yak-9U would have been against the very bottom of the barrel dregs of the Luftwaffe 9-10 months later. If the Yak-9U in the hands of one, two or even 3 fighter groups/regiments in the winter of 1944/45 contributed greatly to Soviet air superiority, one wonders just how superior the Russians were to the dregs of the Luftwaffe when flying older Yak-9s or LA-5 & 7s?
I am also AMAZED at the eyesight of these poorly trained, green German pilots who can pick out such details as the position of oil coolers and the presence of a radio mast at hundreds (if not a thousand) meters, in time to avoid combat.
