YAKOVLEV YAK-36 "FREEHAND"

The Yakovlev Yak-36 (NATO designation: Freehand) was a Soviet fighter-attack aircraft with VTOL capability, with an all-metal structure in the spine-wing configuration. The drive was provided by two Tumański R-27-300 engines . The flight of the prototype took place in 1963, and shortly after only about 10 of this aircraft were built. It was to be armed with a 23 mm GSh-23L cannon and a load of up to 200 kg of bombs, but in practice no machine had a fixed armament. The Yak-36 was created in connection with the VTOL / VSTOL aircraft project initiated in 1960 in Yakovlev's office, i.e. an aircraft with a shortened take-off and landing route and the possibility of vertical take-off and landing. In essence, the Yak-36 was not designed as a serial machine, but rather as a technology demonstrator, which was supposed to be a response to the British Kestrel program, which, incidentally, led to the creation of the Harrier aircraft. Also the Yak-36 was to lead to the gathering of experience and observations, which were used to create a more advanced structure, i.e. the Yak-38 machine. Tests in units with the Yak-36 took place in the period 1966-1970.