Yakovlev Yak-1

what is it?

The Yakovlev Yak-1 (Russian: Яковлев Як-1) is a Soviet fighter aircraft of World War II. The Yak-1 was a single-seat monoplane with a composite structure and wooden wings; production began in early 1940. The Yak-1 was a maneuverable, fast and competitive fighter aircraft. The composite-wooden structure made it easy to maintain and the engine proved to be reliable.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 10 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 592 km/htop speed
• range 700 kmwithout refuelling
• size 2,884 kgmax take-off weight
• built 8,734made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 86 years ago, in 1940.
• 🏎️Top speed is 4.6× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 10 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.1× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1940-01-13

introduced

1940

retired

1950

status

retired

number built

8,734

role

fighter aircraft

makers

NPO Lavochkin, Saratov Aviation Plant

engines

1× Klimov M-105PF / Klimov M-105

crew

1

length

8.5 m

wingspan

10 m

height

2.6 m

max take-off weight

2,884 kg

top speed

592 km/h

range

700 km

ceiling

10,050 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.