THE FIRST ALL-METAL, THE LAST TRANSPORT

The first task involved the creation of a glider with a payload of 3 – 3.5 tons, with a weight empty not more than 3006 kg and towing capability for a Tu-2 or Il-12T (Il-12D) at a speed of 300 km/h Stipulated the list of transported goods, including cars and guns caliber 76 mm, and the possibility of landing on unprepared terrain.

 

Although the team Yakovlev had previously specialized fighters, he boldly took up the case. Leading designers on the airframe of the Yak-14 was assigned to L. M. Schechter, and E. Adler. The designers familiarized themselves with all available information for the American gliders СG-4A and СG-13, as well as the British “Hamilcar” and carefully studied the captured German Go 242, distilled from the front to Moscow. Design solutions of the above devices is clearly influenced by the project Yak-14. Moreover, applied to them the scheme of the fuselage with internal spatial trusses, welded steel pipe, fully fit in the tradition of Yakovlevskoe design Bureau. Yak-14 became the first Soviet transport glider design which virtually absent the tree. However, in the first series of cargo floor was made of 10 mm plywood, but it was later replaced by aluminum.

 

A few months later the project was ready, and by the end of 1947, the plant No. 464 in the suburban Dolgoprudny built the first prototype of the Yak-14. Later on, this company produced two more of the airframe, with improvements.

The first Yak-14 took to the air on 31 January 1948 It was piloted by B. G. Sands, and V. G. Il’in, and the tug of Il-12 was the crew under the command of I. I. Klimenko. The factory tests were finished on 4 March. By eliminating defects, the airframe was transferred to the state tests in NII VVS, which was held from 4 April to 14 may. They revealed a variety of defects, both minor, such as no vents in the cockpit, and very serious – a large friction in the control system, the lack of efficiency of the ailerons and slow speed of the Elevator. But the main drawback was the appearance of the flutter of a wing with a large (but less than was asked in the task) towing speed. During one of the flights of Il-12 at the rate of 280 – 285 km/h began shaking leading to the damage to the frame of the fuselage in the place of fastening of the left wing. Fortunately, the mission ended successfully.

 

 

The coloring of the glider Yak-14, is being tested in 1948, the Glider had a blue bottom and a black and green camouflage on top

 

 

Serial glider, shown in aviation Day in Tushino in 1949 Glider had the final position of the front window of the cargo compartment. The Yak-14 was painted light gray on all surfaces, and had the tail number 05 red.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In one of the paragraphs of the act on state tests of the Yak-14 says that the cockpit is not separated from the load, so that the Marines have the ability to monitor the actions of pilots in flight, which is highly undesirable. I wonder what this flight could do the pilots that it was necessary to hide from the assault?

 

The defects were gradually eliminated, and as a result airborne troops have a good solid airframe, stable, easy to fly and had decent cargo capacity.

 

After successful trials serial production of Yak-14 was deployed at plant No. 168 in Rostov-on-don (now Rosvertol). There in the period from 1949 to 1951 , he made 261 glider. In 1950, production started at plant No. 47 in Chkalov (now Orenburg).

 

The only modification under the name Yak-14M was made in 1950, Then the designers were required to bring capacity up to 3,500 kg and to introduce a number of other improvements. The new version looks no different from its predecessor. Yak-14M first produced in parallel with the Yak-14 and gradually replaced it in the series.

In 1951, the factory No. 168 was transferred to the production of Il-10, resulting in the task of gliders took off, and touched the rigging and ordered to transfer to Chkalov. There is the issue of the Yak-14 made in

 

1952 , after the construction of 152 copies. Thus, three enterprises in the amount of 417 built gliders (including prototypes).

 

The Yak-14 was armed regiments, which was based throughout the Soviet Union – from the Belarusian military district to the Maritime provinces. For example, it is known that they have existed in the 12th red banner military-transport division, 334 and 374-m military transport shelves. Commanders gliders were officers, graduates of the Pugachev gliding school, and co-pilots – sergeants-enlisted – graduates of the gliding school in Slavgorod or sergeants are conscripts that came from the flying clubs, which at that time was transformed into a flight school. The third crew member was a mechanic who followed the technical condition of the machine.

 

The crew participated in loading the glider. His role was to control the reliability of fastening of cargo in the cab and the determination of alignment. The load, such as a car or a gun, fixed for 10 to 15 minutes, and after landing were released for 3 – 5 min.

 

 

The prototype glider Yak-14. Note the lack of forces

 

 

Yak-14

 

 

Combat training: the truck GAZ-67B downloads the 57-mm gun in the airframe. The pilot took a seat in the cockpit. During the winter, and under the belly of the airframe visible long ski

 

The gliders were kept under the open sky. As a result, moisture penetrated inside the apparatus and accumulated in the nooks. Despite the many drainage holes, not all of it then he went outside. After a particularly heavy rainfall, the glider had to shake in order to detect the remaining water. Then the mechanic it was dredged, and the remainder was blotted with a rag.

 

The Yak-14 flying pilots previously mastered the glider C-25 and G-11. The latter, after debiting them from the military used as training. The difference is that the aerodynamic quality of the G-11 reached to 16 and the Yak-14 was equal to only 12.5, so at first it was possible to fly into the area for complex aerobatics and the second is not. In flight the Yak-14 was recalled, as expressed by pilots, “Gypsy horse”: close-fitting fabric between the attachment places swelled out, and sometimes bend inward, so that the frame was sticking out like ribs from a skinny horse.

 

As for the tactical qualities of the glider, their disadvantages due more to a lack of power towing. Still, the Il-12D (or T) with two engines AL-82FN was weak for a glider with a takeoff weight of 6750 lbs. For take-off coupling of the Il-12, Yak-14 was required pad length less than 1800 m and with an open approach. Narrow the range of permissible speeds and large turn radii causes the duration of the take-off linkage consisting of the squadron, and especially the -shelf. The result is a column of links aeroscape stretched for a great distance, which delayed the planting process. And that is the loss of surprise and tempo of the assault. The problem was exacerbated by the small range of Il-12. This limited the choice of airfields and landing sites. So massive use of the Yak-14 in major amphibious operations, promised to be very difficult.

 

Plaque glider pilots in the early 1950-ies ranged from 20 to 60 hours per year, depending on units: in Tula – more, and in Primorsky region -less.

 

Not complete without flight accidents. The story of one veteran, once after take-off climb tore the right emergency door of the cockpit. Engineer regiment, not believing that the door was secondlina, ordered the crew to find her, threatening that, otherwise, they themselves will produce. To find the door failed in the garden of one of the locals. Soon the door was hoisted into place, and she regularly stood until the end of operation of the airframe.

 

Was disaster. Over Vitebsk after uncoupling from a towing vehicle during a landing approach, the glider was not out of the roll, slid on the wing and crashed. The crew and Marines were killed. Officially the cause of the disaster is not established. But unofficially, the main version was the lack of training of the crew, which led to errors in piloting, resulting in loss of speed and stalling of the machine.

 

Another case occurred in Polotsk, during night flights. During takeoff aerosapce paratrooper, who was in the stern, grasped the handle of the lock, fixing the tail portion in the closed position. The handle was nezakonchennoy and aft fuselage, freed from holding her locks, slowly began to step aside. Soldiers tried to rectify the situation by grabbing hold of the fuselage and its tail part, but the strength is not enough… the Glider lost control and crashed.

 

The Yak-14 was not used in actual combat, and the most striking episode in their “biography” was the flight to the North pole. The Soviet Union tried to establish airfields in the Arctic ice to pose a threat to the United States. Naturally, it was necessary to deliver the goods for such airfields. Suggested to use cargo gliders. In 1950, the Soviet pilots were made polar flights in gliders C-25. In 1954 it was decided to repeat, but with a practical purpose – to deliver goods on the drifting station “North pole-4” (SP-4). Officially, it was scientific, and in fact the airfields for strategic bombers.

 

 

 

 

The training was led by generals N. With. Skripko and E. F. Loginov. Prepared four aerosapce from towing the Il-12D and gliders Yak-14. In the first coupling, the commander of the tow plane was A. N. Haritonin, and the crew of the glider consisted of M. S. Polukhin and

 

A. A. Alysheba. The second coupling of the Il-12D was flying G. I. Gladkov, and the Yak-14-Y. M. Gudilin and A. I. Leoshko. The third hitch the tug was piloted by N. And. Maksimov, the glider was B. F. Rodin and J. G. Tradedin. On the fourth coupling detailed data are not available, we only know that one of the members of the crew of the glider bore the name Kurmanayev.

 

During the training the crews often flew in, carrying on Board the glider artillery weight of 3.5 t. the Flights were carried out by day, night and adverse weather conditions. Worked out this unusual technique as landing without disengaging (both tug and glider), usually never did.

 

Before the flight the gliders loaded. In one placed the compressor and the explosives in the other – is equipped with a blower car GAZ-69. In other put other necessary goods. The towers were empty.

 

The flight began on the morning of March 10, 1954, Myasnovo airfield near Tula. After four hours, took place the first landing in Kazan. The next day flew to Sverdlovsk, and then to Omsk. Then along the TRANS-Siberian railway was the flight to Novosibirsk, and in the evening to Krasnoyarsk. The next day, after 3.5 hours of flying along the Yenisei river, was in the stony Tunguska river. The section from Podzemnoi Tunguska to Igarka was the hardest – hit in the afternoon. The pilots of one of aerosteon lost orientation and landed in taruhan-SK, where flew to Igarka, after the establishment of the good weather.

 

At the stage Igarka – Khatanga was in the icing. This was followed by flights to Cape Kosisty in the Laptev sea, two days in the Bay of Tiksi at the mouth of the Lena. The day reached the village of chokurdakh, refueled there, and the same day landed in Crosses Kolyma. March 26 from plentywood of aerosapce flew to Cape Schmidt, where the expedition remained until April 1. There on the glider Polukhina loaded the bulldozer. It had previously taken to Cape Schmidt disassembled four aircraft. Now he entered one of the Yak-14. However, it turned out great Overdrive, so part of the crawler tracks are lifted and moved to another glider. But in this case, the overload was equal to 700 kg. But the airframe survived. In other Yak-14 was loaded with a diesel generator, drilling machine, and the radar system of “blind landing”. Before departing I put a new tow ropes. After all the preparations, the expedition took off and headed for SP-4. After 4 hours 40 min. reached the ice airfield. The gliders unhooked, and the towers returned to the Wrangel island. The Yak-14 was successfully boarded, bringing the explorers needed goods. The entire expedition took 109 hours 21 mins flight time. Glider pilots returned to the mainland on other planes, and the gliders left on the ice. So was completed this outstanding flight. Any winning bidders not known.

 

 

Bow cook. Seen towing the castle in the centre, rosette of the aircraft intercom system and headlight

 

 

Generator GSK-1500 with a windmill mounted on the strut

 

 

The tail of the glider aside. On the left side see a door. On the right edge of the fuselage is a lock to secure the rear. The portholes are visible round the loopholes for ventilation and firing personal weapons of the troops

 

 

The Cockpit Of The Yak-14. In the center – instrument panel with navigation instruments. Below, the “beard” visible steering wheel trim rudder, again below the taps and gauges of the air system. Between the seats -steering wheel trim ailerons, near the left seat – the lever of a manual brake

 

 

Electro – and radio equipment, located behind the right seat pilot

 

Troop-carrying gliders was in service with the Soviet air force until the mid 1950s when they were replaced by turboprop transport aircraft an-8 and Mi-4 and Mi-6. As for glider pilots, those who are lucky retrained on the right of the pilots of the An-8, and people were not so lucky – ARTStrelka on the same plane. Some time part of the gliders was in conservation, but in a short time they went to be scrapped. To date there is no single Yak-14.

 

Gliders of this type were exported. In 1953, the Soviet Union handed over Czechoslovakia 10 gliders Yak-14 and TS-25, where they received designations, respectively, PC-14 and NK-25. The first two Yak-14 (PC-14) was taken in tow for Il-12 to the airfield Peshov in Eastern Slovakia.