Yakovlev Yak-30
The Yakovlev Yak-30 was a Soviet jet trainer developed in the late 1950s to replace piston trainers, but it lost the production competition to the L-29 Delfín. It had a clean, lightweight airframe, swept wings, and a tandem cockpit designed for straightforward handling. Only a handful were built, so it became an aircraft better known to historians than pilots. Its fate shows how capable prototypes can disappear when a different design is chosen for mass production.
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Did you know?
After losing the trainer contract to the L-29, a Yak-30 test pilot used it to set official world light-jet speed and altitude records.
Specifications
| Length | 10.1 m (33 ft) |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 9.4 m (31 ft) |
| Height | 3.4 m (11 ft) |
| Crew | 2 |
| Range | 700 NM (1,296 km) |
| Maximum speed | 470 kt (870 km/h) |
| Service ceiling | 45,000 ft (13,716 m) |
| Rate of climb | 3,540 ft/min (18 m/s) |
| Take-off distance | 425 m (1,394 ft) |
| Engines | 1x Tumansky RU-19 |
| Units built | 4 |
Curated by CatchFlights from manufacturer documents, ICAO Doc 8643 and reference works; values are left out where no source could confirm them. Sources are listed on our credits page.
In CatchFlights
In CatchFlights the Yakovlev Yak-30 starts as a Legendary catch. The tier is an editorial judgement of how special a sighting of this type is. The more often you catch it, the closer it moves to Common for you. The first catch of a legendary type pays a bonus of its own.
A catch counts for the manufacturer Yakovlev, the Yak-30 family and the model in your collection, and the daily Type Rating quiz asks about the types of each family.
Catch it yourself.CatchFlights shows the aircraft flying near you on a radar, so a type like this one is only a catch away when it passes overhead. Explore CatchFlights.
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