Yakovlev Yak-9

Specifications:

Length: 28.05 ft (8.55 m)
Width: 32.05 ft (9.77 m)
Height: 9.71 ft (2.96 m)
Weight (Empty): 5,988 lb (2,716 kg)
Weight (MTOW): 6,830 lb (3,098 kg)
Power: 1 x Klimov VK-107A inline piston engine developing 1,650 horsepower driving a three-bladed propeller unit at the nose.
Speed: 434 mph (698 kph; 377 kts)
Ceiling: 39,042 feet (11,900 m; 7.39 miles)
Range: 541 miles (870 km; 470 nm)
Rate-of-Climb: 4,920 ft/min (1,500 m/min)

The Yakovlev Yak-9 was a single-engine single-seat multipurpose fighter aircraft used by the Soviet Union in World War II and after.

The Yak-9 arrived to Soviet fighter aviation regiments at the Stalingrad Front in December 1942 and played a major role in taking air superiority over Luftwaffe aces on the new Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and Messerschmitt Bf 109G fighters during the grand Battle of Kursk in summer 1943.

The Yak-9 had a lowered rear fuselage decking and all-around vision canopy. Its lighter metal longerons gave the new fighter a potential to increase fuel load and armament that previous models with wooden airframe had lacked. The maneuverable, high-speed at low/medium altitudes and easy to control Yak-9 was one of the best and the most mass-produced Soviet fighter of World War II.

It was produced in different variants including the Yak-9T with the 37 mm and the “large-calibre” Yak-9K with the 45 mm cannon firing through propeller hub to be effectively used against enemy tanks and aircraft, the fighter-bomber Yak-9B with the inner hanger behind cockpit of up to 400 kg bombs, the long-range Yak-9D and the Yak-9DD with additional wing fuel tanks to escort Allied bombers over Eastern Europe, the Yak-9U with the more powerful engine and improved aerodynamics.

The Yak-9 remained in production from 1942 to 1948, with 16,769 built (14,579 during the war).

Following World War II, the Yak-9 was used also by the North Korean Air Force during the Korean War.