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Initially a glider designer in the mid-1920s, Aleksandr Sergeyevich Yakovlev would eventually lead one of the Soviet Union’s most famous aircraft design bureaus. The Yak-9 was developed from the earlier Yakovlev fighters that included the successful Yak-3 and Yak-7. It first entered combat over Stalingrad in late 1942 as a lighter version of the Yak-7. The Yak-9 family was built in many different versions and is considered the most important Soviet fighter type of World War II. The Yak-9U was the most numerous variant, and the postwar Yak-9P was the last piston-engine fighter type produced by Yakovlev.
The Museum’s Yak-9 is a rare, rebuilt original aircraft and possibly includes elements of a postwar Yak-9P airframe. It was acquired by Doug Champlin in the early 1990s and underwent a two-year restoration in Moscow. The fighter is equipped with an original engine and propeller, and all instrumentation and other miscellaneous parts are of original Russian manufacture. It was shipped to the Champlin Museum in Mesa, Arizona in 1996.
This Yak-9 is one of approximately 10 surviving aircraft worldwide and is the only original Yak-9 on display in the West. The aircraft is displayed as the Yak-9U of the Russian World War II ace and Hero of the Soviet Union, Georgy Baevsky.
Initially a glider designer in the mid-1920s, Aleksandr Sergeyevich Yakovlev would eventually lead one of the Soviet Union’s most famous aircraft design bureaus. The Yak-9 was developed from the earlier Yakovlev fighters that included the successful Yak-3 and Yak-7. It first entered combat over Stalingrad in late 1942 as a lighter version of the Yak-7. The Yak-9 family was built in many different versions and is considered the most important Soviet fighter type of World War II. The Yak-9U was the most numerous variant, and the postwar Yak-9P was the last piston-engine fighter type produced by Yakovlev.
The Museum’s Yak-9 is a rare, rebuilt original aircraft and possibly includes elements of a postwar Yak-9P airframe. It was acquired by Doug Champlin in the early 1990s and underwent a two-year restoration in Moscow. The fighter is equipped with an original engine and propeller, and all instrumentation and other miscellaneous parts are of original Russian manufacture. It was shipped to the Champlin Museum in Mesa, Arizona in 1996.
This Yak-9 is one of approximately 10 surviving aircraft worldwide and is the only original Yak-9 on display in the West. The aircraft is displayed as the Yak-9U of the Russian World War II ace and Hero of the Soviet Union, Georgy Baevsky.
