The Yakovlev Yak-16 (

NATO reporting name NATO uses a system of code names, called reporting names, to denote military aircraft and other equipment used by post-Soviet states, former Warsaw Pact countries, China, and other countries. The system assists military communications by providi ...

Cork) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

light

transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

that first flew in 1947. Prototypes were built in both passenger and military cargo versions, but neither was put into production as the

Antonov An-2 The Antonov An-2 (USAF/DoD reporting name Type 22, NATO reporting name Colt) is a Soviet Union, Soviet mass-produced single-engine biplane utility/agricultural aircraft designed and manufactured by the Antonov Design Bureau beginning in 1947. I ...

was felt to be more versatile.

Development

After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the GVF (''Grazdahnskij Vozdushnyj Flot''–Civil Air Fleet) issued a requirement for a passenger aircraft to service low-volume destinations too small to justify a

Lisunov Li-2 The Lisunov Li-2 (NATO reporting name: Cab), originally designated PS-84, was a license-built Soviet-version of the Douglas DC-3. It was produced by Factory #84 in Khimki, Moscow-Khimki and, after the factory's evacuation in 1941, at the Tash ...

. It wanted an aircraft capable of carrying ten passengers over a distance of at a cruising speed of that would be powered by a pair of

Shvetsov ASh-21 The Shvetsov ASh-21 is a seven-cylinder single-row air-cooled radial aero engine. Design and development The ASh-21 is basically a single-row version of the Shvetsov ASh-82. The ASh-21 also incorporates a number of parts from the ASh-62 rad ...

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating engine, reciprocating type internal combustion engine, internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinder (engine), cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. ...

s. The

Yakovlev The Joint-stock company, JSC A.S. Yakovlev Design Bureau () is a Russian aircraft designer and manufacturer (design office prefix Yak). Its head office is in Aeroport District, Northern Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is a subsidiary of Yakovle ...

OKB OKB () is a transliteration of the Russian initials for "" (), which translates to "Experimental Design Bureau." It could also mean or "Special Design Bureau" in english. During the Soviet era, OKBs were closed institutions working on design and ...

was tasked to fulfill this requirement in February 1946 with the first prototype ready for State acceptance trials on 1 November 1946.Gordon, p. 239. This proved to be too optimistic considering the amount of work the OKB was already doing and this was delayed to August 1947. The specification was revised at the same time to specify a speed no less than at sea level and that the military version was to mount a dorsal

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

with a single gun. The Yak-16 was a low-winged, twin-engined monoplane that closely resembled the Li-2. The metal-skinned, semi-

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

fuselage had room for a two-person

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

and ten passengers plus a toilet and baggage hold. The control surfaces of the tail were fabric-covered although the tail itself was metal-skinned. The two- spar metal wing was built in three sections, a rectangular center section and two trapezoidal outer panels. The main undercarriage legs retracted forward into the engine

nacelle A nacelle ( ) is a streamlined container for aircraft parts such as Aircraft engine, engines, fuel or equipment. When attached entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached with a Hardpoint#Pylon, pylo ...

s, with the wheels remaining semi-exposed, while the tailwheel was fixed. The ASh-21 engines had

NACA cowling The NACA cowling is a type of aerodynamic Aircraft fairing, fairing used to streamliner, streamline radial engines installed on airplanes. It was developed by Fred Weick of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1927. It was a ...

s and drove two-bladed variable-pitch VISh-11V-20 propellers. The first prototype, often referred to as the Yak-16-I, made its first flight on 24 September 1947 and proved to have excellent handling characteristics with one engine out and could also climb with one engine inoperable. It passed its State acceptance trials in early 1948 at the NII GVF (''Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy Institut Grazhdanskogo Vozdushnogo Flota''—Scientific Test Institute for Civil Air Fleet). The military transport version, often called the Yak-16-II, differed from the passenger version as it carried a UTK-1 ball turret that mounted a

Berezin UB The Berezin UB () (''Berezin's Universal'') was a 12.7 mm caliber Soviet aircraft machine gun widely used during World War II. Development In 1937, began designing a new large-caliber aircraft machine gun chambered to the 12.7 mm roun ...

T machine gun immediately behind the flight deck, the cargo cabin floor was reinforced, the vertical tail was slightly larger and the fuselage was slightly longer. It used three-bladed V-511

feathering Feathering is a technique used in computer graphics software to smooth or blur the edges of a feature. The term is inherited from a technique of fine retouching using fine feathers. Paintbrush feathering Feathering is most commonly used on a ...

propellers with scimitar-shaped blades. It could carry seven paratroopers, ten fully equipped troops or six stretcher cases and a medical attendant. It was fitted with a large clamshell door on the left side of the fuselage to facilitate cargo loading. This door had a smaller, inward-opening door set into its forward half. Three TsDMMM-120 supply containers could be fitted on racks underneath the wing center section and it was fitted with a glider tow hook. The Yak-16-II passed its manufacturer's trials in April 1948 and was submitted for the State acceptance trials shortly afterwards. These revealed several deficiencies that caused the horizontal tail area to be increased and

deicing De-icing is the process of removing snow, ice or frost from a surface. Anti-icing is the application of chemicals that not only de-ice but also remain on a surface and continue to delay the reformation of ice for a certain period of time, or pr ...

equipment to be fitted on the leading edges of the wings and tail. It was resubmitted for another round of State acceptance trials which approved it for production. However, it was not selected for production as the

was thought to be more versatile in both roles. Some effort was made to drum up export sales in Eastern Europe, but no interest was shown because it was not in service with Aeroflot. The prototypes were used for a time by the Yakovlev OKB and Factory No. 464 which had built them.Gordon, pp. 241–43

Specifications (Yak-16-I)

Notes

Bibliography

* *

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20130430162446/http://www.aviation.ru/Yak/#16 * http://www.airwar.ru/enc/craft/yak16.html (in Russian, with photos) * https://web.archive.org/web/20030911032856/http://eroplan.boom.ru/bibl/shavrov2/chr3/p1/yak_l2.htm (in Russian, with photos) {{Use dmy dates, date=August 2019 1940s Soviet civil utility aircraft 1940s Soviet airliners 1940s Soviet military transport aircraft Yak-016 Abandoned military aircraft projects of the Soviet Union Aircraft first flown in 1947 Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft with retractable conventional landing gear