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In
1960, Alexander Yakovlev watched British VTOL prototype, the Short SC.1 at
Farnborough. He was so impressed by the VTOL concept and started his own
VTOL study. A year later in 1961, with success of the Hawker Kestrel
convertional flight, Yakovlev quickly decided to build a test-bed in the
class of the Kestrel, with vectored nozzles which could rotate through 90°.
A small jet nozzle was also installed under the nose probe and tail cone
for pitch control.
The retractable door was fitted under the nose and the fuselage center to
reduce hot gas re-ingestion. Three flight articles were built, numbered
36, 37 & 38. First hover flight was in 1964 and first full VTOL flight
completed in 1966. The Yak-36 was first publicly displayed at the
Domodedovo Air show in 1967. NATO was shocked by its appearance and gave
it designation “Freehand”. However, the flight performance was justified
unstable but it provided various flight data to the further operational
Yak-38 Forger.
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