View source for Yakovlev Yak-14

{{Short description|Assault glider in the Soviet Air Force}}
<!-- This article is a part of [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Aircraft]]. Please see [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Aircraft/page content]] for recommended layout. -->
{{Infobox aircraft
  |name = Yak-14
  |image = File:Як-14 3.jpg
  |caption = 
  |type = Military transport glider 
  |manufacturer = [[Yakovlev]]
  |designer = 
  |first_flight = [[1948 in aviation|1948]]
  |introduction = [[1950 in aviation|1950]]
  |retired =
  |status = Retired
  |primary_user = [[Soviet Union]]
  |more_users = [[Czechoslovakia]]
  |produced = 
  |number_built = 413
  |unit cost = 
  |variants = 
}}

The '''Yakovlev Yak-14''' ({{langx|ru|Яковлев Як-14}}; [[NATO reporting name]]: '''Crow''' or '''Mare''')<ref>Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1955-56 p. 188</ref> was the largest [[Military glider|assault glider]] ever to enter service with the [[Soviet Air Force]]. It was introduced in 1949, at a time when other air forces were abandoning the glider concept. In 1950 a Yak-14 became the first glider to fly over the [[North Pole]].<ref name="Gunston">Gunston, Bill. ''Yakovlev Aircraft since 1924''. London, UK: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1997. {{ISBN|1-55750-978-6}}.</ref>

==Design and development==
During [[World War II]], the Soviet Union operated only light gliders like the [[Gribovsky G-11]], [[Antonov A-7]] and Kolesnikov-Tsybin [[KC-20]] which were unable to transport vehicles, light tanks or artillery. Only after the war were Soviet designers ordered to develop medium gliders capable of carrying heavy or bulky loads.<ref name="airwar">[http://www.airwar.ru/enc/glider/yak14.html "Як-14"], ''Уголок Неба''. Retrieved 16 December 2011. (in Russian)</ref> In 1948 the Soviet Air Forces issued a specification for a large assault glider needed by the ''VDV'' (''Vozdushnodesantnyye Voyska'' – airborne troops) which was to be capable of carrying a payload of {{convert|3500|kg|lb}}, including loads like an anti-tank or field gun with its crew and associated tow vehicle, or up to 35 troops. The [[Yakovlev]] [[design bureau]] was instructed to design an aircraft to meet this requirement, despite its relative inexperience in the design of such large aircraft.<ref name="GunYak p104">Gunston and Gordon 1997, p. 104.</ref><ref name="OKBYak p243">Gordon et al 2005, p. 243.</ref>

Yakovlev's design, the Yak-14 was a high-wing [[monoplane]]. It had a rectangular section fuselage with a steel-tube and [[duralumin|dural]] structure  with a fabric covering.  To aid loading and unloading of cargo, the aircraft's nose swung to the right with the tail section pivoting to the left. The two pilots sat side by side in an enclosed cockpit above the left side of the fuselage. They were provided with a display that used a transmitter in the towing aircraft to show the relative positions of the two aircraft when flying in cloud. The wings were made of dural and fabric and were braced to the fuselage by a single strut on each side. Large [[Flap (aircraft)#Types of flaps|slotted trailing-edge flaps]] were fitted to the wings, while the aircraft was fitted with a fixed [[tricycle landing gear|nosewheel undercarriage]] which could be made to "kneel" by releasing air from the pneumatic shock struts of the undercarriage, lowering the fuselage for ease of unloading or to make short landings on belly-mounted skids.<ref name="OKBYak p243"/><ref name="GunYak p104-5">Gunston and Gordon 1997, pp. 104–105.</ref>

===Testing===
The first prototype made its maiden flight in June 1948 from Medvyezhe Ozero, near [[Omsk]].<ref name="GunYak p105">Gunston and Gordon 1997, p. 105.</ref> Official testing resulted in a number of changes to the design, with a large dorsal fin being fitted, and spoilers being added to reduce landing runs, while the payload of the glider was increased to allow an [[ASU-57]] [[assault gun]] to be carried. As such the Yak-14 passed its acceptance trials from August to September 1949, with the glider entering mass production later that year.<ref name="OKBYak p244-5">Gordon et al 2005, pp. 244–245.</ref>

While some Yak-14s were constructed at [[Chkalovsk, Russia|Chkalovsk]], the majority were produced at [[Rostov-on-Don]]. Total production was 413 series gliders.<ref name="GunYak p105"/>

==Operational history==
The Yak-14 filled an important role in Soviet service in the 1950s, being the only way of carrying large loads by air to remote parts of the Soviet Union without having to disassemble the loads.<ref name="OKBYak p245">Gordon et al 2005, p. 245.</ref> The usual tug was the [[Ilyushin Il-12]].<ref name="GunYak p105"/>

One Yak-14 was flown to the North Pole in 1950,<ref name="GunYak p105"/> while another example of the glider's versatility took place in March 1954, when four Yak-14s made a long-distance flight to an [[Drifting ice station|ice station]] on an [[Drift ice|ice floe]] drifting on the [[Arctic Ocean]], with the supplies delivered including a large bulldozer. The gliders flew from [[Tula, Russia|Tula]] on March 10, with several stops at [[Omsk]], [[Krasnoyarsk]] and the Schmidt Cape, on [[Sakhalin]] island in the Far East, before reaching SP-4 in early April during a heavy freeze.
<ref name="airwar"/><ref name="OKBYak p245"/>

A few were delivered to [[Czechoslovakia]] in the early 1950s which used them under the designation '''NK-14'''.<ref name="OKBYak p245"/>

Soviet Air Force transport gliders were gradually withdrawn from service with the arrival of turboprop transports like the [[Antonov An-24]] and [[Antonov An-12]], which entered service in the late 1950s.

==Variants==
;Yak-14
:Basic production variant.
;Yak-14M
:Increased payload version built from 1951.
;NK-14 (Nákladní kluzák – cargo glider)
:Yak-14s delivered to Czechoslovakia

==Operators==
;{{CZS}}
*[[Czechoslovak Air Force]]
;{{USSR}}
*[[Soviet Air Force]]

==Specifications (Yak-14)==
[[File:Jak-14.svg|right|200px]]
{{Aircraft specs
|ref=Yakovlev Aircraft since 1924<ref name="GunYak p105"/>
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|empty weight kg=3082
|empty weight lb=
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|gross weight lb=
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==See also==
{{aircontent
|related=
|similar aircraft=<!-- similar or comparable aircraft -->
*[[Airspeed Horsa]]
*[[Chase XCG-20]]
*[[General Aircraft Hamilcar]]
*[[Gotha Go 242]]
*[[Messerschmitt Me 321]]
*[[Tsybin Ts-25]]
*[[Waco CG-4]]
|lists=
*[[List of military aircraft of the Soviet Union and the CIS]]
}}

==References==
{{commons category|Yakovlev Yak-14}}
;Notes
{{Reflist}}
;Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
*[http://www.airwar.ru/gliders.html Yak-14] at [http://www.airwar.ru Ugolok Neba] {{in lang|ru}}
* Gordon, Yefim, Dmitry Komissarov and Sergey Komissarov. ''OKB Yakovlev: A History of the Design Bureau and its Aircraft''. Hinkley, UK: Midland Publishing, 2005. {{ISBN|1-85780-203-9}}.
* [[Bill Gunston|Gunston, Bill]].  ''The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1975–1995''. London, UK: Osprey, 1995. {{ISBN|1-85532-405-9}}.
* Gunston, Bill and Yefim Gordon. ''Yakovlev Aircraft since 1924''. London, UK: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1997. {{ISBN|1-55750-978-6}}.
{{refend}}

{{Yakovlev aircraft}}
{{Czech gliders}}
{{USAF/DoD reporting names}}

[[Category:1940s military gliders]]
[[Category:1940s Soviet military transport aircraft]]
[[Category:Yakovlev aircraft|Yak-014]]
[[Category:Aircraft first flown in 1948]]
[[Category:High-wing aircraft]]
[[Category:Glider aircraft]]
[[Category:Aircraft with fixed tricycle landing gear]]