Yak-9

The Yakovlev Yak-9 is a Soviet single-engine, single-seat fighter aircraft that entered service in October 1942, built at aircraft plants in Novosibirsk, Omsk and Moscow as a lighter, more heavily armed successor to earlier wartime Yakovlev fighter designs. A redesigned rear fuselage and canopy gave the pilot improved visibility, and a lighter metal structure than earlier Yak fighters freed up weight for additional fuel and armament, improvements that together made the Yak-9 a capable match for the German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters it increasingly faced as the war continued. The type played a significant part in the Soviet Union's efforts to wrest air superiority back from the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943, and it was subsequently produced in numerous specialized variants adapted for anti-tank attack, bombing, reconnaissance and long-range bomber escort duty. With 16,769 built between late 1942 and 1948, the Yak-9 became one of the most numerous Soviet fighter types of the war.