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You maybe noticed, I organized a whole blog category under the same name. Because the Mr. Yakovlev’s name is a very special one. It always meant a lot for the generations of aviators in Russia (or, formerly - in the Soviet Union). They usually learned this name at the very beginning of their way ‘from the ground up’.

This is a logo of the famous firm, which name in Russian is: ‘Опытное Конструкторское Бюро (ОКБ) имени A. C. Яковлева‘ (Opytno-Konstruktorskoye Byuro Imeni A. S. Yakovleva) Normally they translate it into English as ‘Yakovlev Design Bureau‘. I linked this name to the OKB’s official site, English language issue.

Here you can see the OKB’s headquarters. It was located there in the Leningradski Prospect in Moscow at least until the time I saw it and pictured (February, 2004). Recent reports (or, rather, ‘rumors’) from Russia have it there’s been a series of dramatic reshuffles and ownership’s changes in organization, and I’m not sure if this building still belongs to the firm. Should inquire from ‘reliable sources’, though.

Anyway, the name is well know not only in Russia, or the former Soviet Republics and the Soviet Union satellite countries. Oshkosh stunned me with the number of planes bearing the familiar name.

But my most precious ‘find’ was the Yak-11 belonged to Bill Shepherd.

The plane from my teenager’s dream!

It had a remarkable past: built in Czechoslovakia, served in Egypt military, then eventually got to the US, where it was rebuilt in 1987 and got American engine (14 cylinder Pratt&Whitney radial with 1350 hp in it), propeller, instruments, wheels, brakes.

I’m going to make a dedicated post with pictures of this Yak.

(to be continued…)

P.S.

I checked my mail box about an hour ago, and there was an interesting message from Eric in it with a few pictures attached - incredible, one of them was of the SAME Yak-11!

Eric:

Here’s a couple
of shots from the Lethbridge Airshow a couple of years back. I was
there with a 737 for a charter from YQL to YVR with a couple of hours
to look around.

Thank you, Eric.

(Eric is an active member of our ‘RA-85123 Fan Club’)