Father of the Yak fighter: the only aircraft designer Stalin personally summoned for advice
Stalin told him: 'Say what you think, don't be embarrassed — we trust you, though you're young. You're not mixed up in the mistakes of the past, so you can be more objective than the old specialists who led us into the swamp with aviation.'
The most important Soviet fighter designer of World War II: his Yak-1, Yak-3, Yak-7, and Yak-9 constituted two-thirds of all Soviet wartime fighters. Denied entry to the Zhukovsky Academy for 'non-proletarian origins,' he broke through via glider competitions and founded his own design bureau by 1932. Stalin summoned him personally for aviation advice in 1939 and in 1940 made him simultaneously Deputy People's Commissar of the Aviation Industry and head of OKB-115, a fusion of administrative and design authority unique among Soviet constructors. More Yak fighters were built than any other warplane in history; after the war came the Yak-15 (USSR's first jet fighter), Yak-25 all-weather interceptor, Yak-28 supersonic bomber, and the Yak-40/Yak-42 jetliners, while he served 43 years in the Supreme Soviet and collected virtually every Soviet honor.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1924–31Designed AVF-10 glider and AIR-1 light aircraft; graduated Zhukovsky Air Force Academy
- 1932–39Founded light aviation design bureau at Plant No. 39; promoted to chief designer
- 1940–46Deputy People's Commissar of Aviation Industry & head of OKB-115; Yak-1, Yak-7, Yak-9, Yak-3 fighters
- 1945–53Yak-15 jet fighter, Yak-17, Yak-23, Yak-25 all-weather interceptor
- 1956–68General Constructor; Yak-28 supersonic bomber, Yak-24 helicopter, Yak-40 airliner
- 1968–84Yak-42 jetliner, Yak-50/Yak-52 aerobatic aircraft; USSR Academy of Sciences full member
- 1946–89Supreme Soviet deputy; twice Hero of Socialist Labor, six Stalin Prizes, Lenin Prize
Related historical events
- 1928–1937The Five-Year Plans and the Soviet TransformationFounded aircraft design bureau
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic WarDeputy Commissar of Aviation Industry & chief designer of Yak-series fightersHis Yak-1, Yak-7, Yak-9, and Yak-3 fighters supplied two-thirds of Soviet wartime fighter strength; as Deputy Commissar he oversaw factory evacuation eastward and production reorganization. Over 40,000 Yak-series fighters were built during the war, forming the backbone of Red Army air power.
Deputy People's Commissar: production organization and wartime evacuation
Yakovlev sustained wartime aircraft output not only as a designer but as an administrator. He joined the Party in 1938 and from 11 January 1940 to 1946 concurrently served as a deputy people's commissar for new technology in the Aviation Industry Commissariat, becoming a deputy minister in March 1946 before resigning the post at his own request that July. English-language accounts record that he served under Stalin as a Vice-Minister of Aviation Industry between 1940 and 1946.
That post gave him access to production practice beyond Soviet borders. Before the war he made a number of trips abroad, including to Italy, England and Germany, to study aircraft development in those countries.
Once the war began, his role was tested under conditions of mobilization and plant relocation. After the start of the war he helped supervise the evacuation of aircraft factories to the east and the production organization, while continuing as head designer of his bureau. This dual tenure illustrates a distinctive Soviet aviation-industry arrangement in which design authority and production-administrative authority were combined in one person. His design bureau had been in large-series production since 1934, and more than 40,000 Yak aircraft were built for the front during the war, forming two-thirds of all Soviet fighters.