Yakovlev AIR-12

Yakovlev AIR-12

Company type	Aircraft
Industry	Aviation
Founded	1936
Founder	Alexander Yakovlev
Products	Long-range sport aircraft

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The Yakovlev AIR-12 was a Soviet long-range sport plane developed and constructed in the late 1930s.

Design and development

In 1936, Yakovlev created a long-distance sport aircraft aimed at establishing new flight distance records. Following his typical design approach, the AIR-12 featured a fuselage constructed from welded steel tubing, with removable aluminium panels covering the nose section, plywood skin extending back to the wing trailing edge, and fabric covering the rear fuselage. Its wooden wings were plywood-skinned, exhibiting a high aspect ratio with pronounced tapering, swept leading edges, and straight trailing edges. The control surfaces and tail assembly were fabricated from D1 (duralumin) framework and finished with fabric covering.

The aircraft accommodated both pilot and passenger/navigator within two enclosed cockpits. The pilot’s position was located behind the wing trailing edge beneath a small canopy that slid forward and included flip-open side panels. Positioned above the wing center-section, the passenger/navigator’s cockpit featured a flush glazed roof.

Propulsion came from the widely used 100 hp (75 kW) Shvetsov M-11 five-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, which turned a two-bladed fixed-pitch wooden propeller. Fuel storage consisted of a single large tank situated in the fuselage ahead of the front cockpit, with an option for an auxiliary tank installed within the front cockpit.

The AIR-12 was equipped with a retractable tailwheel undercarriage; its main wheels retracted inward through a mechanism operated by cables, a torque shaft, and a hand crank located in the pilot’s cockpit.

Following initial flight trials and Piontovskiy’s long-distance flight in September 1936, the AIR-12 received an upgraded 150 hp (110 kW) M-11Ye engine.

Operational history

Flight trials for the AIR-12 began in August 1936. Among these was a notable long-range nonstop journey piloted by Yulian I. Piontkovskiy on 21 September 1936, which covered a route from Moscow to Kharkiv, then to Sevastopol, and back to Kharkiv. This mission lasted 10 hours and 45 minutes, traversing approximately 2,000 km (1,200 mi). Subsequently, on 24 October 1937, Valentina Grizodoobova (pilot) and Marina Roskova (navigator) completed a flight of 1,444 km (897 mi) from Moscow to Akhtoobinsk. However, this particular flight was not officially acknowledged by the FAI due to the absence of an authorized observer.