Yak 9 in British Markings

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Member for

15 years 7 months

Posts: 68

Hello to all

During the last month apart from researching for our next project (Hawker Hurricane) I was dealing with a very interesting subject, the Yak 9 in British Markings.

I have been receiving a great help from Erik Pilawskii who is a historian on the Soviet and Russian aviation.

As per what we have I think that there were probably two Yak 9 with such markings.

1) Yak 9-D or -9DD (Storrar’s Yak)
Storrar got his machine in 1945 from one of the nearby units in northern Yugoslavia. It was given to him by a pilot who was in Italy before, at Bari, for the 1944 operations there. The Russian pilot invited Storrar to fly the Yak, and he fell in love with it. Therefore, the Russian pilot let him have it.
Some sources mention that the aircraft had the letters “JAS” painted on the fuselage sides (JAS was his nick-name. Short of James) but others sources state that the letters were “JES” (Initials of James Eric Storrar).
I found a picture with the following reference: “James Eric Storrar’s personal hack, a late Yak 9D, carries his personal initials “JAS” in black on the fuselage just in front of the roundels. Storrar served as a commander with N°234 sqd, equipped with P-51 Mustangs, based at Treviso in Northern Italy. Other pilots were rotated to fly this machine on seniority basis. The aircraft ruptured its oil tank during a flight and when all attempts to repair or replace the damage item failed, the Yak 9 was towed to the center of the airfield and ceremonially burnt.” (RAF Museum).

The big problem with the above mentioned picture is that show a Yak-9M and not a Yak-9D and therefore it is quite possible that the Yak 9M which is show on the picture was not the Storrar’s Yak.

2) Yak 9-M
I have another photo from the Enciclopedia de Giorgio Apostolo showing an Ex Yugoslavian Yak-9M which in 1946 landed on Treviso. This Yak -9M is stated to have been flown by a "defector". This is consistent with a complaint from the USSR to the Allied Control Commission in Italy that a pilot became "disoriented" and landed in Italy, and should be returned.

I would really appreciate if someone could add more information on this issue, specially on the Storrar’s Yak.

Many thanks in advance

Kind regards
Santiago Hrubisko

Original post

Member for

16 years 6 months

Posts: 1,327

Don't know if this is any help and I think I may have mentioned it elsewhere on the forum before.
My father was stationed in Italy with the RAF about 1944/45 onwards. He was stationed at Bari and Brindisi and Fayid in Egypt. He used to have an album of photos which included a rather distant shot of a Yak 9 which he always told me was in Bulgarian AF markings. He said the pilot defected and landed at Bari. He thought the aircraft was burnt and the remains dumped in a quarry at the end of the runway to hide the evidence. Unfortunately the photo album disappeared after he died otherwise I would have gladly posted the photo here. It is interesting that you also refer to a Yak 9 at Bari and I would have thought it unlikely that two turned up on the same Italian airfield.

Member for

15 years 7 months

Posts: 68

Hi

Many thanks for looking and writting here. I wonder if you remember something of that photos or may be about the history of that Yak.
Any detail could help us a lot.

Kind regards
Santiago

Member for

16 years 6 months

Posts: 1,327

Sorry but I haven't seen the photo for 15 to 20 years. It is possible one of my sisters still has the album but we parted on , shall we say, less than friendly terms after events which followed my parents death so I don't feel inclined to try to track them down.
All I remember is that the markings didn't appear to be RAF and that my dad always said it was a Bulgarian AF aircraft. He said that the Yak was inspected to gain as much info as possible about the type and then burnt and dumped in the quarry at the end of the runway at Bari.
He had other photos of Caproni Ca311's in RAF markings and said that the downdraught over the quarry cuased them problems on take off particularly when fully laden.
Sorry I can't be more help.

Member for

19 years 9 months

Posts: 1,777

I posted these on the thread in Britmodeller; Can't recall where I got them from. I also have some correspondence from Flypast in the 80s.

http://ds.dial.pipex.com/prod/dialspace/town/walk/xtv16/quiz_photo_9a.jpg

http://ds.dial.pipex.com/prod/dialspace/town/walk/xtv16/quiz_photo_9b.jpg

Member for

19 years 7 months

Posts: 189

Only one RAF Yak?

If there was a Yak in RAF markings in 1944 it was not Storrar's - he started 1944 at 53 OTU as CFI, then commanded the Air Dispatch Letter Service based at Northholt, before commanding 64 and the 165 Sqns at the end of the year - all in the UK. He did not reach Italy until January 1946, when he was WCF 239 Wing.

The attached photos show his Yak in RAF markings, with his 'JAS' marking, and two shots of the Bulgarian defector's Yak 9 in its Bulagarian markings (over Russian stars) at Bari in 1946. If the triangular marking beneath the tailplane is a serial, then the two aircraft are the same - both showing '72' over '7087'.

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Member for

16 years 6 months

Posts: 1,327

The Yak at Bari looks like the one that was in my fathers picture but I think his was a port side view from a lower angle. Still great to see another picture after all this time and have it confirmed that it was definitely a Bulgarian AF machine. Thanks for posting the photos.

Member for

19 years 9 months

Posts: 1,777

Nice shots Cranwick - the one in RAF marking is the same one as I posted obviously, but a cleaner copy (you can of course see the JAS!)

It is credited to the RAF Museum when in publications. Not seen those two of it as '39' but another appears in the Squadron/Signal Yak Fighters in Action' book.

Somewhere I have another (port) side shot that shows the JAS as well.