Yakovlev AIR-12
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| AIR-12 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Long-range record setting aircraft |
| National origin | Soviet Union |
| Designer | Aleksander Sergeyevich Yakovlev |
| Number built | 1 |
| History | |
| First flight | August 1936 |
The Yakovlev AIR-12 was a long-range sport aircraft designed and built in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s.
In 1936 Yakovlev designed a long-range sport aircraft, intended to perform record-breaking long-distance flights. Adhering to his established design methods, the AIR-12 had a welded steel tube covered by removable aluminium panels at the nose, plywood skinning back to the wing trailing edge and fabric fabric-covered rear fuselage. The plywood skinned wooden wings had a high aspect ratio and were sharply tapered with leading-edge sweep and straight trailing-edges. Control surfaces and tail unit were built up with D1 (duralumin) and covered with fabric.[1]
Accommodation was provided for pilot and passenger/navigator in two closed cockpits. The pilot sat in the rear cockpit aft of the wing trailing-edges under a small forward-sliding canopy and flip-open side panels. The passenger/navigator's cockpit had a flush glazed roof and was situated over the centre-section.[1]
Power was supplied by the ubiquitous 100 hp (75 kW) Shvetsov M-11 5-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, driving a two-bladed wooden fixed pitch propeller. Fuel was carried in a single large tank in the fuselage forward of the front cockpit and an auxiliary tank could also be fitted in the front cockpit.[1]
The AIR-12 was fitted with a retractable tail-wheel undercarriage with the main-wheels retracting inwards, operated by cables, torque shaft and hand crank in the pilots cockpit.[1]
After initial flight testing and Piontovskiy's long distance flight in September 1936, the AIR-12 was re-engined with a 150 hp (110 kW) M-11Ye.[1]