The Yakovlev Yak-15 (originally given the designation Type-2 by US intelligence, and later the NATO reporting name Feather) was an early Soviet jet fighter, and the lightest operational jet fighter ever built. It retained the wings, tail-wheel undercarriage, rear fuselage, and tail unit of the all-metal piston-engined Yak-3U. It was powered by a copy of the German axial-flow Junkers Jumo 004B turbojet engine, designated RD-10. The powerplant was installed in the nose with the exhaust under the wing. In this way, pilots were given an easy introduction to jet engines.

About 280 were built.

Specifications (Yak-15)

General Characteristics

• Crew: one, pilot
• Length: 8.70 m (28 ft 6 in)
• Wingspan: 9.20 m (30 ft 2 in)
• Height: 2.27 m (7 ft 6 in)
• Wing area: 14.9 m² (160 ft²)
• Empty: 1,852 kg (4,074 lb)
• Loaded: 2,742 kg (6,032 lb)
• Maximum takeoff: kg ( lb)
• Powerplant: 1x Tumansky RD-10 turbojet, 8.9 kN (2,000 lb) thrust

Performance

• Maximum speed: 700 km/h (438 mph)
• Range: 510 km (319 miles)
• Service ceiling: 13,350 m (43,788 ft)
• Rate of climb: m/min ( ft/min)
• Wing loading: 184 kg/m² (38 lb/ft²)
• Thrust-to-weight: 0.33:1

Armament

• 2x 23 mm Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 machine guns with 60 rounds

External links:

http://www.aviation.ru/Yak/#15

Related content

Related development: Yak-3 - Yak-17 - Yak-23

Comparable aircraft:

Designation sequence: Yak-12 - Yak-13 - Yak-14 - Yak-15 - Yak-16 - Yak-17 - Yak-18