McGreig's Gallery of Failure - Spitfire Seaplane & Yak-3 Now Finished

[McGreig]

Thanks for the kind comments on the Spitfire. And now, on to the Yak-3-2T-37:

With the Yak-3 you have done what no other designer has managed during the 1939-45 period -  you have designed and put into production a genuinely effective light fighter. Indeed, although operational requirements and scenarios differ from theatre to theatre, your Yak-3 is going to be near the top of  anybody's top ten World War 2 fighters.

So, having achieved this milestone, what do you do to address the future development of your  lightweight success story. It's obvious – you design a dedicated, anti-tank version with a large 37mm cannon   You do have to wonder sometimes what medication Aleksandr Yakovlev was on.

In January 1945 the Yak bureau completed the prototype Yak-3T-37. This machine had the engine-mounted 20mm cannon replaced by a 37mm Nudel'man anti-tank cannon. To keep performance from deteriorating, further weight saving was introduced including a reduction in the fuel capacity and, especially useful in an aircraft designed to be flown at low level in the face of intense ground fire, the self-sealing coating of the fuel tanks was deleted  

Tests showed that handling hadn't been affected by the changes but the new cannon was never successfully integrated with the engine, leading to persistent engine malfunctions.

However, in 1944 the USSR had been sent 75 Mk.IID and Mk.IV Hurricanes armed with two 40mm underwing cannon and Yakovlev thought that this might be the solution to the problems of the Yak-3T-37. The Hurricane armament system was modified to take the Nudel'man cannon and a prototype Yak-3-2T-37 was produced without the engine cannon but with two underwing cannons.





The top speed of the Yak-3T-37 had dropped from 447mph to 391mph and tests showed that this deteriorated further to 365mph with the 2T-37 version. Also, maneuverability and handling, which had been relatively unchanged in the original T-37 had deteriorated slightly although not enough to affect the aircraft's accuracy as a gun platform.





Fortunately for the pilots who might have had to fly the Yak-3-2T-37 on operations, the VVS was committed to it's doctrine of two-seat armoured attack aircraft and the Generals were unenthusiastic about the new Yak. Yakovlev, who had Stalin's ear, might have persisted with his proposals but the end of the war in Europe effectively ended the project.



This is a relatively simple conversion of the Hasegawa Yak-3 to take the cannons from the old Airfix Hurricane Mk.II kit.

And, amazingly, apart from the development of the two cannon version, most of the above is true!  

[NARSES2]

Great work mate