Red heat

Air Classics, Oct 2002 by O'Leary, Michael

BRUCE LOCKWOOD CREATES A HOT-ROD YAK 3 FOR AIRSHOW PERFORMER ART NALLS

On 12 July, the sky over Mojave Airport was filled with dark, threatening clouds. George Hulett and myself were orbiting over the desert at 5500 feet in the Bonanza camera plane when Bruce Lockwood streaked past us, the bright red nose of the Yak 3 a blur. "Wow, this thing is like a Bearcat!" enthused Bruce as he pulled up into a steep climb before racking the Yak into a turn to join up on our left wing.

This indeed was a Yak 3 with a difference for Bruce had taken the already high-performance aircraft and turned it into an aerial hot-rod for airshow pilot Art Nalls. Let's go back a bit in time and briefly review the Yak 3UA program.

During the 1991 Museum of Flying Auction at Santa Monica, California, participants were a bit shocked when an authentic unrestored Yakovlev Yak 3 fighter was rolled into the auction tent. One of only two intact survivors of the type (the other is in the Musee de l'Air in France), this particular aircraft was not being offered for sale. The auctioneer quickly made it known that the fighter had been shipped over for display courtesy of the Yakovlev Design Bureau and the Russian government. However, brand-new Yak 3UAs were being offered for sale at the auction! This announcement brought more than a ripple of surprise from the gathered Warbird buyers.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism, an amazing transformation took place in world politics and economics. The failed system had been replaced by individual countries learning how to be capitalistic on an international scale which was a tough but very necessary growing process.

Part of this process consisted of American businessmen investing in the former Soviet Union and of former communists traveling the globe in search of capital-making projects in order to keep their factories and employees operating during the drastic and unprecedented conversion of philosophies. Members of the Yakovlev Design Bureau traveled to America to meet with officers of Flight Magic in order to hammer out a deal to market their new brainchild in the States.

Yakovlev has built some of the world's most effective combat aircraft including the so-far only supersonic VSTOL fighter - the Yak 141.

One of the most successful series of fighter aircraft during World War Two also came from the Yakovlev Design Bureau and the series included the Yak 1, Yak 3, Yak 7 and Yak 9. For the uninitiated, these designations are a bit confusing since the designs were not produced in numerical order. The first fighter to be designed and built by Alexander S. Yakovlev was the I-26 (later-Yak 1) which was named Krasavec (beauty) and first flew during the summer of 1940. The graceful low-wing monoplane with its V-12 engine was an immediate success. The plane was ordered into production in May 1941, just a few short weeks before the beginning of the massive German Blitzkrieg.

Stalin was so personally pleased with the Yak 1 that he made the rather extraordinary gift of the Order of Lenin, 100,000 rubles, and a Zis auto to a startled Yakovlev. The Yak 1 was updated to the Yak 7 but the type still had a few defects and they were replaced by the Yak 9 which made its 'combat debut in the deadly skies over Stalingrad during October 1942. Pilots enjoyed the Yak 9 and found it nimble, well-armed and comparable to most German fighters - especially effective at low altitudes. Over 36,000 Yak fighters were produced during WWII and the majority consisted of the Yak 9. In fact, one giant production plant in the Urals built over half the Yak fighters.

The Yak 3 was developed alongside the Yak 9 but with a bit different mission since the type was originally designed to work in cooperation with Soviet army at low altitudes. The Yak 3 began flying in 1944 and was initially of mixed construction, the completed aircraft being given a thick coat of polish to decrease drag and improve appearance. The Yak 3 differed in a number of ways from the 9 and had a smaller wingspan - pilots reporting the aircraft flew similar to a Spitfire but with better initial climb and that the ailerons were lighter. The Yak 3 was intended to operate at altitudes below 11,000 feet and Soviet combat pilots found the plane to be superior to the Fw 190A and Me 109G which they were meeting on a daily basis. Essentially a lightweight, clipped wing variant of the 9, the Yak 3 excelled against the enemy and was also very useful for attacking ground targets.

During early 1991, a delegation led by Sergei Yakovlev (sont of the famous designer and test pilot in his own right) visited the United States and over a period of months formulated a plan with Flight Magic that would see the Yak 3 put back into production.

The original drawings still existed as did some of the original jigs. However, Yakovlev and Flight Magic decided to replace the now unavailable Klimov V-12 with a tried-and-- true Allison V-1710 V-12 that would be thoroughly overhauled by Bud Wheeler.

Yakovlev and his advisors went with the Allison because it is an American powerplant and the engine could be overhauled in the States and then shipped as a zero-time unit to Yakovlev for installation. The new Yaks, designated Yak 3UA, were built to original specifications but, over the years, the quality of metals has changed tremendously. The Yak was a strong aircraft originally but it is even stronger now with the advances in technology. Flight Magic and Yakovlev built ten Yak 3UAs which were shipped to the United States when completed.