The
design, a development of the UT-2 with retractable landing
gear and enclosed cockpit, proved exceptionally easy to
build and maintain. The first Yak-18, which carried two
pilots seated in tandem, was mainly used as a trainer.
Later versions included a Yak-18U with semi-retractable
tricycle landing gear and a longer fuselage, a Yak-18A
with a more powerful 260-hp engine, and the Yak-18P- a
single seat version for aerobatics.
In the
1960s and 1970s, modified Yak-18s ruled the world of
competitive international aerobatics. It was progressively
upgraded with more powerful engines, a tricycle landing
gear, and with more modern materials replacing the
original fabric and steel tubing construction. Nearly
11,000 Yak-18s have been produced in some 11 variants at
factories in Arsenyev, Kharkov and Saratov (Russia), Becau
(Romania) and China.
It
continues in production today, 55 years later, in two of
its many variants, the four-seat Yak-18T and two-seat
Yak-54. The Yak-18 became the standard trainer for Air
Forces flying schools and DOSAAF.
This plane
was so popular the Chinese began to produce them under the
name Nanchang CJ-5. Many of the planes were exported to
other countries including North Korea, who used them as
nuisance bombers. For training flyers, in the early 1990s
North Korea had 100 CJ-5 and CJ-6 propeller driven
aircraft (Chinese modifications of the Yak-18),
The final
version was the Yak-18T which could carry two pilots and
two passengers. The Yak 18T is a big, aerobatic- capable,
four-seat retractable found throughout the Eastern Bloc
working as a trainer, a transport, air-ambulance, aerial
photography platform, pipeline patroller and just about
any other role they could think up. The 18T is a classic
bird, with the M-14P radial up front, a large airframe,
fabric covered outer wing panels and control surfaces and
a big cabin with four (and often five) seats. Top speed is
160 Kts if conditions are right, with a cruise speed in
the range of 125-130 KTS. While outright speed is not the
18T's forte, the ability to carry a load a good distance
and into/out of unimproved fields, definitely is. Handling
is excellent, well balanced and control pressures get
heavy only at the very top of the speed envelope. The 18T
is a tough, well proven aircraft. The 18T is a wonderful
aircraft to fly, well within the capabilities of most
private pilots. It can perform all the basic aerobatic
manoeuvres, and is available with inverted systems for
fuel and oil.
