AEROFAX: YAKOVLEV Yak-25/-26/-27/-28

During the 1950s and 1960s the Soviet design bureau Yakovlev was responsible for a series of swept-wing twin-engined jet combat aircraft, all covered in this Aerofax - as usual with a mass of new information, detail and illustrations from original Russian sources. The Yak-25 "Flashlight" flown in 1953 was a tandem-seat fighter interceptor with bicycle landing gear. From this basic design stemmed other developments including the Yak-25RD "Mandrake" reconnaissance platform and Yak-26 three-seater with strengthened wings. The Yak-27 was a further improvement, known as "Mangrove", but "Flashlight-C" in its -27P night-fighter guise. The slightly larger Yak-28 "Brewer" first appeared in public in 1961 at Tushino and though bearing a strong family resemblance to the -25/-26/-27 was a completely new design and it largely replaced the IL-28 with the VVF. Different developments were known by NATO as "Firebar", "Brewer" and "Maestro".