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00:00June 22, 1941.
00:05Hitler launches Operation Barbarossa,
00:08his invasion of the Soviet Union.
00:11An ill-equipped Russian Air Force is caught off-guard.
00:15But with the end of the day,
00:17it is not the end of the day.
00:19It is not the end of the day.
00:21It is not the end of the day.
00:23It is not the end of the day.
00:25It is not the end of the day.
00:26It is not the end of the day.
00:28But within two years,
00:31aircraft like the Yak-3 fighter
00:33turn the tide in what the Russians call
00:35the Great Patriotic War.
00:48This is the Yakovlev Yak-9.
00:51It was the ultimate form of an aircraft
00:53that was designed in 1939
00:56to satisfy an official requirement for a new generation
00:59of Russian single-seat combat aircraft.
01:03As the Great Patriotic War dragged on,
01:06these Yakovlev fighters evolved into an effective opponent
01:09for the Luftwaffe's legendary Messerschmitts and Focke-Wulfs.
01:15Alexander Yakovlev's original design was promising.
01:18It made its public debut in the 1940 May Day flypast,
01:24while Russia was still basking in the false security
01:27of Stalin's non-aggression pact with Hitler.
01:31But a year later, on the eve of Operation Barbarossa,
01:35Hitler's surprise attack on Russia,
01:37the Yak fighters were still not in full production.
01:41Most Russian fighter aircraft were outmoded designs,
01:45and Russia was about to be invaded again.
01:52In Russia, the recollection and commemoration
01:55of the experience of war is part of the way of life.
01:59On Kutuzovsky Prospekt, the western gateway to Moscow,
02:05there is a victory arch that dates from the Napoleonic Wars
02:08of the early 1800s.
02:10It celebrates Mother Russia's victory over Napoleon
02:14and symbolizes her ability to repel invaders from the west.
02:18Like Napoleon, Hitler saw Russia as a great prize,
02:22the answer to his problem of lack of living space or labelled surround.
02:29He also saw Russia as a society ill-prepared for war
02:33against his own mighty forces,
02:36superbly equipped for battle on Russia's sweeping landscape
02:40and in the air above it.
02:49Hitler was right.
02:50Russia was ill-prepared,
02:53but he underestimated the spirit
02:55with which the Russian people would defend
02:57their vast motherland.
03:02This is a Soviet fighter pilot called Mikhailov,
03:05who, with his ammunition exhausted,
03:07sacrificed his life and his Yak-3
03:10to bring down a German fighter.
03:2050 years on, stories of courage and sacrifice like his
03:27are still fresh in the minds of the Russians,
03:30and the uniquely Russian planes in which their parents
03:33and grandparents fought the air battles of the great patriotic war
03:38have themselves become legends.
03:41But in the early years, the Russian aircraft industry
03:44was slow to establish its own identity.
03:50Before the Revolution of 1917,
03:53most of the scout or fighter aircraft of the Imperial Russian Air Force
03:57were Russian versions of French and British designs built under licence.
04:02After the Revolution, interest in aircraft waned
04:07as Lenin's Bolsheviks concentrated on establishing a new social order.
04:12But with the beginning of the Civil War,
04:15it became obvious that the Red Army needed air support,
04:19and on May Day 1918,
04:22aircraft were given a prominent place in the military parade.
04:30In December 1918,
04:32Nikolai Zhukovsky became the founding head
04:35of the Central Aero and Hydrodynamics Institute known as Tsagi.
04:43Zhukovsky was the father figure of a group of young students of aeronautics,
04:47and Tsagi was to become the major centre for Russian aviation research.
04:53It also developed some of the most talented designers
04:56and engineers in Russian aviation.
05:02The Red Air Force needed a workhorse
05:04and for convenience chose to copy the British de Havilland DH-9A.
05:10The Russian version was known as the R-1.
05:13R for razvedshik, meaning reconnaissance.
05:29Most of the Russian aircraft produced in the 1920s
05:32were strongly influenced by British and German designs.
05:35But gradually, a new generation of bright young Soviet designers
05:40began to impose their ideas on the developing industry.
05:44Nikolai Polykarpov's special area of interest was fighter aircraft,
05:49but one of his first major successes was a reconnaissance design
05:53to replace the R-1.
05:58It was a simple biplane called the R-5.
06:01It entered service in 1930, and when production ended in 1937,
06:056,000 had been built.
06:06Another 1927 Polykarpov design was a special area of interest
06:09of the R-5.
06:10It was a simple biplane called the R-5.
06:11It entered service in 1930,
06:13and when production ended in 1937,
06:15biplane called the r5 it entered service in 1930 and when production ended in 1937 6 000 had been
06:24built another 1927 polykarpov design for a basic trainer was to become a legend although the first
06:32prototype would not even leave the ground it was called the u2 and like the r5 was strong and
06:38simple it served not only as a trainer but as air ambulance artillery spotter even night bomber
06:46it caused german infantry many sleepless nights in world war ii female combat pilots the night
06:54witches would often cut their engines and glide their u2s in behind german lines dropping bombs
07:00on the sleeping troops more than 40 000 u2s were built they were still a common sight in russian skies
07:11many years after the end of the great patriotic war
07:18polykarpov's fortunes in the late 1920s were mixed he was commissioned to design a fighter but his
07:25progress was considered slow so he was imprisoned and sentenced to be shot the sentence was never
07:32carried out in 1933 he regained political favor and produced two fighter designs the i-15 was a
07:45streamlined biplane with excellent performance but the second design the i-16 was revolution in an era
07:53of biplanes it was a low winged monoplane with retractable landing gear the first fighter of this
07:59kind to enter service anywhere in the world it had a maximum speed of 283 miles an hour which was very
08:08fast for that period by 1935 the i-16 was arriving in numbers in red air force fighter squadrons and over
08:17the next two years several improved versions were introduced
08:23stalin was so pleased with the i-16 that he presented polykarpov with a personal limousine
08:29and the order of lenin
08:31the i-16 was not easy to handle its takeoff and landing speeds were fast it tended to spin viciously
08:47in tight turns red air force pilots said that if you would fly an i-16 you could fly anything
09:01when the spanish civil war broke out in 1936 the wooden framed i-16 was the red air force's premium
09:11fighter improvements had taken the design as far as it could go at first it was successful fighting
09:19on the side of the republicans who called it mosca the fly but then it encountered an enemy that belonged
09:26to a new generation the german messerschmitt bf 109 with its sleek lines and powerful inline engine
09:35was fighting for the condor legion of hitler's nationalist allies
09:47the result of the encounter was clear the i-16 known to the fascist nationalists as the rat
09:54was all but finished
10:08stalin had been a champion of the development of the i-16 it suited his philosophy of sticking with
10:13the proven and familiar but when it failed against the messerschmitt it fell from grace with stalin
10:19and so did polykarpov unlike many other designers of the period polykarpov was not executed in stalin's
10:27savage purges of the military but in effect his career was over
10:36in early 1939 several young aircraft designers were asked to submit proposals for new fighter designs
10:43alexander yakovlev was a man on the way up he began his career as a mechanic at moscow's
10:50central airfield in the late 1920s in 1939 he was 33 years old had a reputation as a ladies
10:58man and driver of fast cars he was also in favor with stalin having recently designed two successful
11:05trainers the ut-1 and ut-2
11:11the yakovlev bureau was considered to have a virtual monopoly in the design of light aircraft
11:17and it now made a strong bid to assume the mantle that had so long been worn by polykarpov
11:23leadership in the design of high performance fighters throughout 1939 the yakovlev bureau worked on the
11:31development of a new design that would be competitive with the german messerschmitt but whether it would
11:38be ready to fight when stalin's inevitable war with hitler began was another question as design work
11:45proceeded and germany was plunging into war in europe stalin signed a non-aggression pact with hitler
11:53buying time that had to be well used by the designers of war material
11:58the full resources of tsagi the central aero and hydrodynamics institute were used to test the
12:07concept and refine the layout of the i-26 as the new prototype was called
12:13by late 1939 design and construction work was complete and in january 1940 it flew for the first time
12:32it went into limited production almost immediately designated yak 1
12:37in the meantime soviet air power received another public defeat in the winter war against finland in
12:46late 1939 obsolete russian heavy bombers failed to immobilize the fins and the red air force lost
12:53almost a thousand aircraft compared with less than a hundred lost by the fins
12:58the poor russian showing was not unnoticed by hitler by late 1940 in spite of his non-aggression pact
13:09with stalin hitler's generals were planning operation barbarossa his invasion of the soviet union
13:20german intelligence estimated that given stalin's purges and russian losses in spain and finland
13:26it would take four years for the red air force to rebuild to its 1937 strength in russia the
13:33rebuilding was already beginning and one of its major components was an abundant russian resource wood
13:46the yak one had wooden wing frames but another new fighter the lavoshkin lagg1 was built almost
13:54completely of wood its skin was made of layers of wood laminated with fiberglass it was very strong but heavy and
14:03underpowered and pilots called it lakiravani garantiravani grob or guaranteed varnished coffin
14:25the third bureau involved in fighter design in 1939 was run by a partnership between artyom mikayan
14:33and mikhail gudevich their mig design bureau was to become a legend in russian aviation
14:40their prototype fighter the i-200 was designed and built in just four months
14:45it entered production in 1940 and became known as the mig one
14:57in this parade celebrating soviet youth in august 1939 there was little hint of a threat of coming war
15:05but many of these young people from the 12 soviet republics would be dead within two years and millions
15:12of soviet children would be without terror neville chamberlain the british prime minister declared war
15:19on germany in september 1939
15:26in america franklin delano roosevelt signed the neutrality act keeping america out of the war for
15:33the time being
15:38red square moscow november the 7th 1940
15:46soviet soviet troops are reviewed by their commander marshal timashenko in a traditional military ceremony
16:05in the presence of joseph stalin
16:18and of high-ranking military officers he tells his soldiers that the independence of the soviet union
16:39is in their hands he says that the safety of the soviet people their houses factories collective farms and
16:47damns is their responsibility if they're called on to use their weapons they must use them well
17:07within five weeks hitler will issue his directive number 21 operation barbarossa his plan to invade the
17:15soviet union as the soviet union as the spring of 1941 took over from the cold of the russian winter
17:24life for ordinary soviet citizens went on much as it had for hundreds of years ruled by the rhythm of
17:30seasonal changes far from considerations of war and turmoil as the weather warmed there was no inkling of
17:39the fact that a few hundred miles to the west germany was beginning to make moves towards invasion
17:46since december 1940 the lufthav had been flying over soviet territory on daily reconnaissance missions
17:52but when stalin was told he ordered the red air force to ignore them
17:58by the spring of 1941 the sound of german aircraft in the skies above russian territory went almost unnoticed
18:05the german forces distributed russian language manual featuring phrases like hands up and surrender
18:13stalin ordered it to be ignored
18:16swarms swarms of aircraft flew over red square on may day the first of may 1941
18:29they looked impressive especially to ordinary citizens but soviet military planners watching
18:36on that day knew well that most of the planes in the skies over the kremlin were all but obsolete
18:48in spite of the thrill they provided for the onlookers they were no match for the superb
18:53equipment of the german luftwaffe which was already massing on the western borders of the soviet union
19:07soviet authorities received reports from switzerland and japan that hitler was planning to invade russia on june
19:20the 22nd the 22nd the information gave a precise account of the german battle order and its objectives
19:28soviet experts considered it too detailed to be true on june the 18th a german soldier deserted
19:36he expected punishment for striking an officer he not only confirmed the date of the invasion but gave
19:42the hour it was due to begin 3 55 a.m stalin said the information could not be trusted
19:52at 3 15 on the morning of june the 22nd hitler launched operation barbarossa
20:00many russian air crews were on weekend leave and others were asleep within hours hitler appeared to
20:06have achieved his aim of putting the soviet air force out of commission
20:19russian forces were confused there was no immediate counter-offensive not until four hours after the attack
20:25was launched did stalin order the red air force to retaliate and destroy the enemy with powerful blows
20:33hitler could not believe the extent of his success luftwaffe chief hermann goering even ordered a
20:41recount of the soviet planes destroyed there were more than two and a half thousand in the first month
20:49of operation barbarossa the luftwaffe claimed to destroy seven and a half thousand soviet aircraft
20:55while losing only 770 of its own but statistics can mislead
21:02the red air force had indeed lost almost 70 percent of its numbers but the luftwaffe's apparently
21:09smaller losses wiped out a devastating 60 percent of the planes available on the eastern front
21:21in washington dc at the soviet embassy ambassador umansky made a comment that must have seemed highly
21:28optimistic at the time hitler has miscalculated ours is a nation of a moral and political unity and
21:39strength unknown in the past it is firmly organized devoted to its leaders and has utmost confidence in
21:50its armed forces which are ready for any test hitler's attack against my country will be smashed
22:08the german forces advanced into russia in moscow the population waited hearing daily news of the german
22:16and then in mid-july when the way to moscow stood open to the german army hitler made a decision that
22:23was to provide a reprieve for stalin and the capital he decided to consolidate the flanks of his army
22:30and postponed his advance on moscow till the end of september there were three bombing raids on moscow
22:37in late july but no great damage was inflicted as moscow prepared for attack the russian summer wore on into
22:51autumn and the weather cooled every passing day turned the situation a little more in favor of the soviet
22:58capital reinforcements arrived in moscow from siberia and the far east in russia there is a period of heavy
23:06rain called rasputitsa the season of bad roads and as the muscovites filled their sandbags and dug
23:15their defenses it approached apparently unconsidered by the german commanders
23:21from the outskirts of the city to red square in the center moscow was placed on the defensive people
23:39from surrounding areas streamed into the refuge of their capital
23:43on september the 30th as planned hitler launched operation typhoon his advance on moscow by now there
23:55were 600 fighter aircraft ready to defend the city half of them the new yaks migs and lags
24:03on october the 7th the rasputitsa struck it rained and by the afternoon much of hitler's forces
24:10were bogged down soviet aircraft could take off from their paved airstrips at will but the luftwaffe
24:17pilots found themselves stuck on muddy fields the pilots defending the moscow area were among the best
24:24in the soviet air force some were test pilots from the design bureaus drafted into service
24:31luftwaffe fighter tactics in the early weeks of barbarossa demonstrated that soviet tactics
24:37were outmoded and the red air force pilots worked hard to develop new theories of aerial combat
24:45what the soviet pilots lacked in skill and tactical knowledge was to some extent compensated for by
24:50their fighting spirit and patriotic zeal after the battle for moscow guards air regiments would be
24:57created in which pilots took an oath saying i swear to you my country and to you my native moscow
25:04that i will fight relentlessly and destroy the fascists with moscow under threat of invasion
25:12children were moved out and so were armament and aircraft factories factories were dismantled
25:19transported behind the distant ural mountains and rebuilt so that production of war materials could
25:25be resumed in safety it was a project of immense size and hardship most of it taking place in late
25:33autumn and winter alexander yakovlev left moscow for novosibirsk in style he drove a pontiac which he
25:44had to abandon for a train and then a plane when he reached the site of his new factory he found
25:51problems with missing parts and unfinished aircraft were buried under feet of snow but with drive and
25:58an improvisation work continued and three weeks after yakovlev arrived the first operational yak one was rolled out
26:08those who arrived at the new factories had to cope with shortages of food tools and materials
26:15but somehow a year after the massive move the factories behind the ural mountains were producing new
26:21military aircraft at the rate of 2000 a month evolution of the fighters was rapid weight and drag were reduced
26:32in the yak 1m the act 3 was another step forward in performance when the act 3 entered service in july 1943
26:41it was superior to both the focke wolf fw 190 and the messerschmitt bf 109 g at altitudes below 16 000 feet
27:02in spite of the incredible achievement of moving the factories out and making them productive
27:13stalin was not satisfied when the counter-offensive from moscow began in late 1941 he saw a need for
27:21greater range for soviet fighters and pressured the design bureaus to give it to him that pressure
27:28passed down the line to the factories already working under impossible conditions many aircraft
27:34were delivered unfit to fly in combat and overtaxed ground crews were forced to do work that should
27:41under normal circumstances have been completed in the factories
27:48nevertheless the new yak fighters performed well pilots learned on the job and in master classes
27:54conducted by new fighter aces one of their first tasks was to overcome a deeply ingrained fear of the
28:02luftwaffe then they had to learn to fight on the dive and on the climb they had to learn to use sun and
28:10cloud cover they had to become more aggressive and determined so that they could use the great potential
28:16of their new thoroughbred high performance machines growing aggression and skill among fighter pilots had to
28:26be tempered with prudence by the summer of 1942 the number of new fighters available was still small
28:34it was important to keep as many planes as possible flying while numerical strength built up
28:40this is a yak 3 in the original yak 1 the pilot's canopy was not raised the rear of the fuselage ran straight
28:51back from the top of the cockpit and pilot visibility was poor the first major modification
28:57to the design was to cut down the rear fuselage and install a canopy with all-round vision
29:04a two-seat trainer version designated yak 7v performed so well that it was converted and fitted out as a
29:13night fighter with the designation yak 7a it's confusing that the yak 7 appeared before the yak 3
29:22and the yak 7v appeared before the yak 7a but that's the way it happened the yak 3 had a more powerful
29:31klimov engine and a constant speed propeller it was very maneuverable and considered to be an extremely
29:39formidable close combat fighter the key to the success of yaks was strength and simplicity the
29:47klimov engine was easy to maintain even under harsh field conditions cockpit instrumentation was simple one
29:57red air force colonel pointed out that there was no need to distract the pilot with a lot of fancy gadgets
30:27from 1941 to 1945 more than 37 000 aircraft belonging to this family of fighters were produced it was the
30:43most successful all-round russian fighter of the great patriotic war
30:47and here the migs with their
31:17light airframe and large engine experienced handling difficulties also they used the same
31:24engine as the illusion stormovik which was considered more important for the war effort and given priority
31:35in the battle for moscow mig ones were available in greater numbers than the other new fighters and
31:41they performed with distinction alongside the few yaks and lags available at the time later they served with
31:49tactical reconnaissance squadrons making better use of their speed and high altitude capability
31:55but one of russia's greatest fighter pilots alexander pakryshkin loved the mig 3. he used its
32:03high altitude capability to develop a new approach to fighter tactics closing the gap between the skills of
32:10soviet pilots and those of the luftwafel the mig 3 was a major factor in developing his technique
32:26he said i decided the thing was to fight more boldly in a vertical plane he would spot enemy formations from
32:34high altitude and dive down attacking where they were weakest other soviet pilots saw his results and followed his lead
32:45severe losses as the war dragged on forced radical changes in organization of the air force
32:51in may 1942 general alexander norvikev issued an edict in the interest of increasing striking force it is ordered to combine the air forces of the western front into a unified air army
33:07the air armies were designed to be flexible enough to respond rapidly to changes in the strategic situation
33:14while each was assigned to support its ground army front control and responsibility was placed in the hands of the air army commander
33:23losses of experienced pilots had been high and new pilots were often briefly and inadequately trained
33:30new controls were introduced no pilot could break off from dogfight without orders or abandon bomber escort duty
33:43forward observation stations were established on the ground just behind the front lines to provide radio
33:55guidance to fighter aircraft often especially in cloudy conditions these stations could track an enemy
34:03aircraft as it took refuge in cloud cover and relay an account of its movements to the pursuing soviet pilot
34:13and air army could be made up of divisions of fighter ground attack aircraft and bombers bomber and sturmovic
34:24divisions often had their own fighter regiments for escort and reconnaissance as a result of the heavy
34:30losses of 1941 and 42 the size of fighter units was reduced the new fighter regiments had 30 aircraft each divided
34:40into three squadrons of 10 the 10 squadron members were subdivided into a pair made up of the leader
34:48and his number two and two flights of four aircraft each
34:54regimental commanders and squadron leaders flew with their units and were expected to observe and
35:12monitor their new pilots even in 1943 confidence was a problem for the inexperienced russians
35:20the reputation of the luftwaffe was daunting for young men just out of a training program that was often
35:26inadequate their tendency to scatter under pressure made them easy targets for the experienced germans
35:33and in spite of reorganization and education it remained a problem throughout the war
35:38as the war continued into 1944 the soviet fighter regiments gained a dominance over the luftwaffe
35:55it was largely numerical brought about by the miracle of increasing production in the factories behind the
36:01ural mountains and mounting losses of luftwaffe fighters that could not be replaced by german industry
36:18in 1942 a new russian fighter emerged to challenge the eminence of the yaks it was the lavachkin la5
36:26a direct descendant of the lag 3 the guaranteed varnished coffin the la5 was no guaranteed coffin it was
36:37still largely wooden but a new radial engine and some design modifications transformed it into an aircraft
36:44able to be able to outperform new messerschmitt and focke wolf fighters at altitudes below 12 000 feet
36:57in 1943 the la7 emerged it was a redesigned and improved version of the la5 fn
37:07and proved itself to be the most advanced soviet fighter in the great patriotic war stalin was so
37:13impressed with its performance that he awarded semyon lavachkin a special prize of 100 000 rubles
37:22the la7 had a radial engine that produced 1800 horsepower giving the aircraft a top speed of almost 420
37:30miles an hour there had been problems in development in 1942 there were two incidents where the wings of la5s
37:40broke in flight at first there were rumors of sabotage but eventually the problem was found to be worn drill
37:47bits they drilled holes in the wing attachments too small to take the bolts assembly workers were using
37:54hefty hammer blows to force them in and the structure was weakened and it failed under stress
38:08the la7 was armed with two 23 millimeter cannon located in the upper cowling hard points under the wings
38:17allowed armament loads of 330 pounds of bombs or six rockets this is the aircraft
38:24flown by the top russian ace of the great patriotic war ivan khajidou his career began in march 1943
38:33in an la5 and he moved to the la7 in july 1944 he flew 520 sorties and had a total of 62 kills including 22
38:46fokker wolfs and 19 messerschmitts by the end of the great patriotic war over 200 soviet pilots had
38:57each destroyed more than 20 german aircraft khajidou and the second ranking russian ace alexander pakrishkin
39:06were each awarded the gold star of the hero of the soviet union three times khajidou's record is
39:14remarkable because as a brilliant instructor he was held back from combat for a year and a half
39:21at one point he had 11 victories in 10 days
39:30more than 10 000 lavotchkin la5 fn's emerged from fighter plant number 21 at gorky east of moscow
39:39from 1944 onwards reconstituted factories at yaroslavl and moscow turned out more than 5 000 la7s
39:53the immense quantities of munitions to arm and support them poured from factories scattered out of
39:59reach of german bombers but the great patriotic war was not fought without some external assistance
40:10this is an american bell p-63 king cobra delivered to russia late in the war under the lend-lease program
40:18lend-lease began in october 1941 the principal fighter aircraft supplied to the russians was the bell p-39
40:27era cobra
40:294 700 were delivered to the soviet union via alaska and siberia in the course of the war
40:35the era cobra was not popular with american pilots because of its poor high altitude performance but the
40:43soviet pilots found that it performed well as a low altitude fighter
40:47its 37 millimeter cannon made it an effective ground attack aircraft and it had excellent radio
40:54communication russian authorities have tended to downplay the effect of lend-lease as a factor in
41:01soviet victory but among fighter aircraft and especially early in the war it was important
41:18in 1943 after more than two years of desperate struggle under conditions of extreme hardship
41:25the soviet union took the upper hand in the great patriotic war
41:33the influence of fighter aircraft in the eventual soviet victory has to be seen in the context of the
41:38overall military effort fighters supported bombers and stromavik raids in the air and infantry and
41:45artillery efforts on the ground they took part in dog fights and they helped enforce blockades of
41:52areas under german control
41:59the fact that russian fighter aircraft in such a sorry state of obsolescence
42:04in 1939 could evolve so quickly and become so competitive with their superb german opponents
42:11by the middle years of the war is one of the extraordinary aspects of the soviet military recovery
42:22this is the yakovlev yak 9 the final point of evolution of the yak fighters during the great patriotic war
42:37it was a development of the axe 7 and responded to stalin's demands to his fighter designers for longer
42:44range to achieve this yakovlev sacrificed the wooden construction of the wings instead of wood the wing spars
42:52were made of lightweight metal and this allowed larger fuel cells to be installed within the wing structure
42:59cannon fired through the propeller shaft and the aircraft also carried either one or two machine guns
43:05the yak 9 was ready in time to take part in the battle of stalingrad where fighting alongside the new
43:16lavoykin la5 it became a major new factor in the aerial war all russian fighter aircraft used wood in some part of
43:26their construction until 1944 when the yak 9u with an all metal airframe was introduced it was to remain
43:36the only soviet fighter aircraft of the war with no wooden components
43:56of the 37 000 yakovlev fighters built during the great patriotic war 17 000 were yak 9s
44:04there were many variants including fighter bomber long-range fighter night interceptor reconnaissance
44:11and trainer versions each one maintained the simplicity and robust strength
44:17that had made the yak 1 a success from the time it first flew
44:26the yak 9 was a perfect culmination of stalin's preference for simplicity and quantity over technological
44:48refinement
44:58the yak 9 was not necessarily the fastest of the yaks its greater fuel load was gained at the loss of some
45:05outright performance the yak 1m and the yak 3 with their lighter construction were considered to be
45:13the high performance air superiority aircraft the yak 7 and yak 9 were battlefield fighters
45:21these two lines of evolution gave the yaks greater flexibility of operation
45:25than any other soviet fighters alexander yakovlev was honored by stalin at the end of the war for his
45:44contribution to the war effort so were the other major design bureau heads not all of whom admired yakovlev
45:52some felt some felt that he used his position as deputy head of the aircraft industry and access to
45:58stalin's ear to promote his own interests it seems likely that he had a hand in ensuring the end of nikolai
46:06polycarpo's career and the close of his design bureau after his death but at least he had the skill to survive
46:14in the atmosphere of paranoia and terror cultivated by stalin and under adverse conditions produce one of the most
46:23effective fighter aircraft of world war ii
46:35this is another yakovlev single-seater aircraft it is a yak 55 a distant descendant of the yak fighters of world war ii
46:53it's one of the finest aerobatic aircraft in the world performing maneuvers that would have been
46:58unthinkable for any world war ii fighter
47:09uh
47:28russian pilots have a passion for aerobatics developing and building on the skills
47:33established by their parents and grandparents in the fighter aircraft in the great patriotic war
47:47the best of the russian aerobatic pilots have a great international reputation and many of
48:04them including the one flying this plane are women
48:23the name of yakovlev is no longer prominent as a designer of air superiority fighters
48:28but the little yak 55 recalls days of glory when yak 1s 7s and 9s flew to victory in the great patriotic war
48:58language in the great trium Ñ of the new york
49:05it's fun to hear that all the stars of frontier aircraft are over the top of the world
49:10the stars of the russian the ini behare their own way
49:19the same voice of the race is known as the nature of the world
49:24the doubt is the era of the world that keeps us alive
49:26Transcription by CastingWords