Yak-28 - Soviet multipurpose combat aircraft

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Yak-28 is a Soviet multipurpose jet combat aircraft, which was produced in various versions. The most common were modifications of a front-line bomber (according to the NATO classification Brewer), an interceptor plane (according to the NATO classification Firebar), as well as an intelligence officer, an EW plane and a training vehicle (according to the NATO classification Maestro). The first flight of the plane made 5 March 1958 of the year. Serial production of the aircraft was completed in 1971 year. A total of 1180 aircraft were built at this point (the largest number among them was the Yak-28P fighter-interceptor version). For export multi-purpose combat aircraft Yak-28 was not delivered.

The Yak-28 was made according to the aerodynamic design of a free-standing high-wing. The wing of the aircraft was swept. The aircraft was equipped with a "bicycle" type landing gear with 2 additional supports, which were located at the wingtips. The power plant of the machine consisted of two turbojet engines R-11-300 of various modifications, which were located in the nacelles under the wings. The fuel supply was located in six fuel tanks, 2 more outboard tanks could be installed under the wing. The Yak-28 could carry bombs of caliber from 100 to 1500 kg, which were fixed in the internal bomb bay. The defensive armament of the aircraft included a 23 mm aviation the NR-23 cannon (50 rounds of ammunition), in 1964 it was replaced by the new GSh-23Y double-barreled cannon.

In the 1960, the Yak-28P double supersonic interceptor was also created on the basis of the Yak-28, which was designed to counter air targets at medium and low altitudes in a large speed range at any time of day in all weather conditions. On this version of the aircraft, the K-8М-1 modified weapon system was installed, which consisted of the Р-2М-8 X-equipped missiles equipped with semi-active radar and thermal guidance heads, launchers and the Orel-D radar. The guns on this version of the aircraft were not set. In comparison with the Su-1 interceptor adopted in 1958 by aircraft, this system was more sophisticated and allowed launching missiles at a significantly greater distance from the target.
Yak-28 - Soviet multipurpose combat aircraft

With the arrival of the first aircraft in the combat units, significant deviations of the operating parameters of the aircraft’s weapons systems from those declared by the manufacturer were identified. Another serious defect was the mass occurrence of cracks in the aircraft, including on the power elements of the Yak-28 design. And if it was possible to figure out the cracks quickly enough: a cycle of advanced life tests was carried out, and corresponding bulletins were prepared with recommendations for operation. That with bringing to the mind of the existing control system of weapons had to tinker and conduct special research. The accuracy of bombing when using supersonic speeds in combat units was so low that it was not even about hitting the target, but at least about hitting the landfill.

As a result, it turned out that the low accuracy of the bombing was associated not only with the characteristics of the equipment (including the delay of the electronic tracking device), but also with the flight conditions, as well as the aerodynamics of the bombs. Over time, the effectiveness of the bombing of the Yak-28 managed to pull up to the requirements of the Air Force, although the multi-purpose aircraft could not get rid of a number of restrictions that were associated with the use of weapons.

It is worth noting that various defects in the design of the aircraft made themselves felt during the entire period of its service, so the car was continuously refined. Thus, the freezing of the rotating antennas of the PKK was corrected by sealing up the vertical tail and hatches, and the asynchronous release of flaps was corrected by using a more powerful hydraulic drive. In order to reduce the length of run and run on the Yak-28, special powder starting accelerators were installed, and the rear landing gear was made “squatted”. At the same time, the front landing gear was equipped with brake wheels and a brake parachute release machine was inserted (the parachute worked at the moment when a special bar lowered from under the tail section of the Yak-28 touched the ground).

In addition, quite extensive studies of the spinning characteristics of the machine were carried out, although here the results were worse than planned. It was possible to establish that the Yak-28 may come out of a corkscrew with a delay in the 2-3 coil, and is also prone to changing the direction of rotation. At the same time, the loss of height, taking into account the subsequent dive, was 8 000 meters. Therefore, in the flight manual of the aircraft it was stated that when the aircraft did not leave the corkscrew to the height of 4 000 meters, the pilots needed to leave the aircraft. It was also considered inappropriate to perform on the Yak-28 a corkscrew for educational purposes.

At first, the Yak-28 caused some distrust among the pilots. Difficulties were caused by frequent engine failures and a stabilizer (there was always the danger of forgetting to rearrange it). At the same time, the problem of suction of foreign objects from the ground, which had appeared on the Yak-25, was not fully resolved and could present the most unpleasant surprises. To parry the Yak-28 reversal in case of engine failure, an instrument was installed on the plane — the AK-2А course automatic, which often provoked them instead of preventing catastrophes when giving out “false failures”, suddenly turning the rudder to the side.

In such a situation, it was very difficult to overpower the foot control, and in the event that a “false refusal” occurred on takeoff, there were too few chances for a successful resolution of the situation. In addition, in piloting a certain difficulty in mastering the landing of the aircraft on the rear support or on the 2 points was annoying, since the parking angle of the aircraft was quite large, as well as the severity of maintaining the glide path. When landing on the first pillar, the plane began to "goat".

Despite all this, the car was relatively uncomplicated in piloting, and as it was mastered in parts, the distrust of the aircraft disappeared. The geography of the use of the Yak-28 looks very impressive, on the map of the USSR it would be difficult to find a region where these planes were not operated. The bomber regiments that switched to the IL-28 continued to carry out their previous tasks on the Yak-28, including delivering to the tactical nuclear target weapons. The jammers were engaged in covering front-line aviation, and reconnaissance regiments were to act in the interests of the front commanders in the event of war. It was these parts that were supposed to work most intensively. Their tasks included the detection of anti-aircraft and ballistic missiles, command posts, operational reserves, communications centers and rear communications of a potential enemy. In peacetime, these aircraft were used for radio intelligence along the countries of the Warsaw Pact and the USSR.

For its time, the Yak-28 had a significant combat load, as well as good maneuverability at maximum speed and afterburner and good thrust-weight ratio. All these qualities made it possible to start working out group actions in the composition, up to and including the division, in any weather conditions and at any time of the day. The combat training of the pilots was carried out extremely intensively, and the crews of the Yak-28 managed to achieve sufficiently high results in precision bombing from a height of 12 000 meters, these heights remained the main method of combat use of these machines.

The disadvantage of the aircraft was considered only a short range when using supersonic. At the same time, reconnaissance aircraft demonstrated their superiority over the MiG-21Р in versatility, and even later Su-24MP, which had “raw” reconnaissance equipment complexes, surpassed in reliability. Even the transition to the actions of aviation, predominantly from low altitudes, did not lead to the loss of combat capability of the Yak-28. Crews of reconnaissance aircraft and bombers were able to work out appropriate methods, guided by which they quite confidently felt themselves flying on the ground and were able to cope with the tasks assigned.

Interesting Facts

1. Quite interesting is the fact that, despite the fairly large number of vehicles produced and operated in combat units, the aircraft was not officially accepted for service.

2. It was on the Yak-28 that Captain Boris Kapustin and Senior Lieutenant Yury Yanov made their feat. 6 of April 1966 of the year at the cost of their lives were able to divert the aircraft from the failed engines from the residential areas of Berlin. Posthumously, the heroes were awarded the Order of the Red Banner in the USSR, and the song “The Great Sky” was written about their feat by Robert Rozhdestvensky. The plane fell into the lake in the area of ​​responsibility of the UK, the bodies of the pilots, along with the debris were raised by British military divers. In this case, the British were able to remove from the aircraft the radar "Orel-D", which subsequently underwent a comprehensive study.

3. The Yak-28 front bomber did not take part in any hostilities. During the entry of the Warsaw Pact into Czechoslovakia, it was used only as a demonstration of force argument. At the same time, these aircraft still had to use weapons. Bombers from the 668 BAP in Tukums were used to suppress the insurrection at BOD Watchdog, the uprising on which 8 of November 1975 of the year was raised by the political officer of the vessel Valery Sablin.

On the morning of November 9, the 10 Yak-28 set off from Tukums, having the order to destroy the rebellious ship at the exit of the Irben Strait. Due to adverse weather conditions in a given area, only one crew of Lieutenant Colonel Porotikov, who headed the group, could find the target. Bombs FAB-250, which fell in the stern "Watchdog", managed to deprive the ship speed. Another departing Yak-28 bombed the Soviet dry-cargo ship heading for Finland, luckily escaping the victims. The third Yak-28 went on the boat of the Commander of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, but the crew of the aircraft realized the mistake on time. It is not worth making ironies in this situation, since it is necessary to note the nervous situation at all levels of management, as well as the psychological complexity of the task set before the crews.

Performance characteristics of the Yak-28:
Dimensions: wingspan - 11,78 m., Length - 20,02 m., Height - 4,3 m.
Wing area - 35,25 square. m
Aircraft weight, kg
- normal takeoff - 16 160;
- Maximum take-off - 18 080;
Engine type - 2 TRD P-11АФ2-300, maximum thrust 2х6100 kgf.
Maximum speed - 1 850 km / h;
Practical range - 2 070 km.
Practical ceiling - 14 500 m.
Crew - 2 man.
Armament: Gun: 1 × 23 mm НР-23 (hereinafter 2 × 23 mm ГШ-23Я)
Bomb: normal bomb load - 1200 kg., Maximum - 3000 kg.

Information sources:
- http://www.airwar.ru/enc/bomber/yak28.html
- http://www.opoccuu.com/yak-28.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/
Aircraft bomber Yak-28 (1960 g.)



Aircraft Yak-28. Piloting Technique (1962)

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  1. Tirpitz
    +9
    1 August 2012 09: 37
    Interesting article. Thanks for the review to the author. except MiG and SU very little is known to the general public about other aircraft of the USSR.
    1. VAF
      VAF
      +14
      1 August 2012 11: 17
      Quote: Tirpitz

      Interesting article. thanks for the review to the author


      I agree, the author +! That's just why the author ignored the participation of the Yak-28R in hostilities in Afghanistan ???

      But there the planes and pilots of the 39th ORAP proved to be more than worthy and really deserve admiration !!! drinks



      1. +6
        1 August 2012 11: 34
        Serega welcome! For me, this plane is generally a discovery. Live and learn))))
        I except about verticals yak38 and yak 141 which ruined did not hear any more. And can you give an estimate of 141, how successful was it?

        thank you in advance
        1. VAF
          VAF
          +10
          1 August 2012 12: 32
          Quote: SrgSoap
          And can you give an estimate of 141, how successful was it?


          Only very briefly, as I run away .... +! drinks

          The Yak-141 is an outstanding model, a genius of design thought, and the Amers didn’t have anything close !!!

          And the result, we do not have a nifig, but they ..... F-35th .... bully A lot of "sleep ....." from there, well, that is, they used .... angry
          1. +3
            1 August 2012 12: 50
            Thank you, for some reason I thought that 35 would be mentioned, there is something similar.
          2. 0
            1 August 2012 21: 53
            Not so many "sleep ...", besides, they bought it. The Yak-141 has 2 lifting engines - the F-35 has a separate rotor for vertical takeoff, while the Yakovlev design bureau insisted on the correctness of the scheme with separate lifting engines. In reality, a rotary nozzle was taken, and a round one, although the Americans also insisted at first on a flat one. The rest is theirs. And we, to our greatest regret, did not continue the development of a wonderful (though not without flaws) machine, and the design bureau does not even conduct theoretical studies.
    2. +7
      1 August 2012 11: 32
      Quote: Tirpitz
      very little is known to the general public about other aircraft of the USSR.


      The article is laudatory and the plane did not take root, it was unstable in the range of M - 0,85-1,05. During takeoff, if the stabilizer was installed without taking into account the interceptor refueling, the Yak-28P, even immediately after taking off from the runway, could easily get into the high-speed one pick up ". The fighter began with a "candle", rapidly pulled upward, the torch of the engines was noted. The crew could be rescued by immediate ejection.
      The so-called reverse ailerons sometimes led to fatal consequences for the crew of the Yak-28P. At the initial stages of the development of the aircraft, the Yak-28P claimed many lives of pilots. According to this sad indicator, the Yak-28P, of course, is far from the Su-9, which inscribed the most mourning pages in the history of air defense aviation, but there were a lot of troubles with this interceptor. The Yak-28P, being originally not intended for maneuverable air combat, was quite strict to pilot training. Ignorance of the control features of the aircraft and its aerodynamics often led to flight accidents and disasters. Therefore, the Yak-28P soldier airplane (for ease of piloting) is difficult to name.

      At one time, when accidents and accidents became more frequent with the Yak-28P in the Air Defense Forces, a training camp was organized by Marshal Yevgeny Savitsky. This forum was attended by representatives of the Yakovlev Design Bureau. The troops prepared reference data, reports, diagrams. During the debate, the aviators tried to prove that the Yak-28P is a very aerodynamically complex aircraft. However, both the leadership of the Air Defense Forces and the representatives of the industry immediately made it clear to the pilots of the air defense aviation - you will not go anywhere, you will fly on this machine and operate the interceptor until the planes leave the resource. Therefore - "learn the material and know the features of the Yak-28P interceptor." Everything as usual

      If Khrushchev hadn’t cut the universal IL-28, it’s not completely modernized, how do you know whether this Yak was needed at all
      1. VAF
        VAF
        +9
        1 August 2012 12: 30
        Quote: Vadivak
        If Khrushchev hadn’t cut the universal IL-28, it’s not completely modernized, how do you know whether this Yak was needed at all


        Vadim, welcome, +! You write a lot correctly, all restrictions on it were higher than the roof, only what it costs is to take off only on MBFR !!!

        And asynchronous flap release and cleaning ???

        Well, P-ka, this is a continuation of the Yak-25P, and so the plane is good at handling and in general ... scouts walked at a height of 10-20 meters at a speed of 900-950 km / h, but in terms of rate of climb it is in the world there were no equal !!!
      2. +5
        1 August 2012 13: 29
        Dear colleague Vadim, the Yak-28 and Il-28 are somewhat different planes, and, moreover, from different generations.
        You, your negative attitude to the personality of A.S. Yakovlev, transfer to the aircraft that were designed under his leadership. Hence your subjective look at the car.
        This car was really stacked on takeoff and landing due to the bicycle chassis circuit, but in the air it was transformed. This was correctly noted by colleague Sergey. As a supersonic front-line reconnaissance officer, he was out of competition, and therefore was in service until the 90s.
        But about the catastrophes and accidents of the interceptor, the MiG-19 was not inferior to him in this, and the MiG-23 was far left behind.
        1. +2
          1 August 2012 14: 51
          Quote: Gamdlislyam
          Dear colleague Vadim,


          Thank you for your dear, but why are we colleagues?
          1. +3
            1 August 2012 15: 02
            The theme unites us.
        2. +2
          1 August 2012 16: 01
          Quote: Gamdlislyam
          Yak-28 and IL-28 are somewhat different planes,


          Yes, I meant the scout, but keep in mind the Yak-28, a multipurpose jet military aircraft. And the IL-28, too. as it turned out to be multi-purpose
          1. +2
            1 August 2012 19: 30
            I agree with you. Only the Il-28 was originally created as a front-line bomber, and only then it was re-energized, by installing the appropriate equipment, into a reconnaissance aircraft. It is enough to remove the reconnaissance equipment, install the bomber equipment - and again it turns into a bomber. In China, they are still in service. Used to establish "constitutional order".
            The Yak-28 was originally created as an interceptor. The bomber, reconnaissance, EW aircraft based on the Yak-28 - these are already new modifications of this machine, specially tailored for specific tasks.
  2. +2
    1 August 2012 21: 08
    An interesting story about an interesting plane ... To the author of the "+" in the piggy bank ... smile

    And from me, according to the tradition of aviation art in the subject ... winked
  3. KOMOd Shpakov
    +1
    1 August 2012 23: 09
    Zampolit Sablin is sorry. It will be necessary to cross out an article about him.
    1. +1
      20 September 2012 10: 13
      Have pity for one thing: Vlasov, Bender, Belenko, Penkovsky, Kalugin and other "defenders" of democracy
  4. +2
    2 August 2012 10: 35
    According to the stories of the technicians who served the Yak-28, he was only good for scouts. When suspending (loading) aerial bombs, it was required to install the aircraft on special lifts, otherwise the load would not be brought under it - low. And after loading it happened, due to a skew, the pilot's lantern did not close. Yes, and the Air Force called it "Flying Fence" because of its specific appearance in flight, and the afterburner was not used during takeoff due to the uneven "ignition" of widely spaced engines. With the Il-28, which could and worked from unpaved airfields and could be serviced by the crew - the Yak-28 in the bomber version - is not comparable.
  5. The comment was deleted.
    1. The comment was deleted.
  6. Graaf
    +2
    3 August 2012 19: 47
    Thanks to author. My brat letal na takom samolete. On pogib, razbilsia kak raz na nem. No Ya pomniu, on ego vsegda ego hvalil. Vechnaya pamiat Valere.
  7. +1
    13 June 2015 15: 03
    The author’s article supplements the material about this aircraft, set forth earlier on the pages of VO. I had to pilot a number of modifications of the Yak-28 and I do not agree with the authors of some comments in everything. The fact is that any design is never perfect, it is a kind of compromise between the desired and possible in each case.

    The "bicycle chassis" used on the car was due to the desire to make the fuselage's interior as free as possible for placing a radar, bomb-bomber and other special equipment intended for use in it. The aircraft was created in the late 50s and then the level of knowledge regarding the choice of landing gear scheme and its integration with other structural elements was significantly different from the present time and what is obvious today required confirmation in practice.

    Initially, the Yak-28 was a barrage fighter-interceptor of air defense and was not intended for maneuverable air combat. In terms of a number of characteristics, it was comparable and even surpassed the main fighter of the Air Force of that time MiG-19. Of course, the declared maximum speed of 1850 km / h did not develop front-line vehicles, but at an altitude of 9 thousand meters the plane easily went at a speed of about 1530-1600 km / h, while the MiG had a maximum speed of 1450 km / h. This was enough to intercept enemy strategic bombers (B-47, B-52, "Volcano") and tactical carriers of nuclear weapons (B-57, B-66, "Canberra").

    On the Yak-28 it was necessary to withstand glide path rather well. Landing on the rear support or on two points was difficult, because in the selected landing gear layout, the nose landing gear was slightly higher than the fuselage and the plane took off and landed “with its nose up” and sometimes “bounced” when landing.

    Air Defense Commander Marshal Savitsky was absolutely right in requiring pilots to have a good knowledge of the provisions of instructions and instructions and to improve the technique of piloting a machine, especially in difficult weather conditions and night flights.

    On my Yak-28 was the Initiative-2 radar, the optical sight OPB-116 and the autopilot AP-28K. as well as the HP-23 cannon and pylons for hanging missiles on consoles of planes. When firing a cannon at an altitude of 6 thousand meters, the plane shook and rocked. Missile launch did not happen.
    Using as a tactical bomber added to the difficulties in maintenance and operation, which is rightly written by those who were preparing the machine for departure.

    When flying at supersonic sounds at low altitudes, a reverse and “felling” of ailerons were observed, which could not be overcome without a radical alteration of the machine. They didn’t go to that and were limited by the speed limit, although, in my opinion, it was more likely due to the fact that supersonic bombing was considered ineffective during exercises and bombing from high altitudes with the appearance of the Nike-Hercules ZURS in the enemy, “ Hawk has also become very problematic. I did not always succeed in bombing small-sized targets with accuracy, but with area targets it was quite successful.

    This is probably why they switched to using the machine as a scout and jammer. Over time, the Yak-28 mastered in combat units and it was successfully used until more modern vehicles replaced it.

    There are not so many foreign cars made according to a similar scheme. The French "Votur" and the English "Bakanir" remained subsonic, the American tactical bombers B-57 and B-66 did not show themselves to be anything outstanding.

    In general, I loved my small, fast and beautiful Yak, which American pilots for some reason called the "flying misunderstanding." Then there were other cars of different classes and purposes, but the Yak-28 is my “first love”, and, as you know, it “does not rust”.

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