The Yakovlev Yak-4 (Service names Yak-4, BB-22bis (''Blizhnij Bombardirovschik'', russian ''ближний бомбардировщик'', "short-range bomber")) 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 bomber A light bomber is a relatively small and fast type of military bomber aircraft that was primarily employed before the 1950s. Such aircraft would typically not carry more than one ton of ordnance. The earliest light bombers were intended to dr ...

used during

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 ...

. It was developed from the Ya-22/ Yak-2.

Design and development

The Yak-4 was an improved version of the Yak-2 with more powerful

Klimov M-105 The Klimov M-105 was a V12 liquid-cooled piston aircraft engine used by Soviet aircraft during World War II.Gunston 1989, p. 90 Development The M-105, designed in 1940, drew heavily on Klimov's experience with the Hispano-Suiza 12Y ( license ...

engines and a number of other changes that were made to try to rectify the problems of the Yak-2. Two additional fuel tanks were added in the outer wings to bring the total capacity up to and the gunner's canopy was bulged to give him more room to use his

ShKAS machine gun The ShKAS (Shpitalny-Komaritski Aviatsionny Skorostrelny, Shpitalny-Komaritski rapid fire for aircraft; Russian language, Russian: ШКАС - Шпитального-Комарицкого Авиационный Скорострельный) is a ...

. The upper fuselage was redesigned to improve the gunner's field of fire and the oil coolers were relocated from the sides of the engine nacelles to the 'chin' position to improve their performance.

Operators

; * VVS

Specifications (Yak-4)

References

External links

Yak-4 description on aviation.ru
{{WWIIUSSRAF Yak-004 1940s Soviet bomber aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1940 Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft with retractable conventional landing gear

Design and development

Operators

Specifications (Yak-4)

References

Further reading

External links