Sovietwarplanes

Hello,

I have been musing with starting a Yak-9, namely this cool-looking machine, used by Double HSU Pavel Yakovlyevich Golovachev.
I have some questions regarding this particular bird:

Firstly - which variant is it?
These pages claim it to be a Yak-9T
http://airfield.narod.ru/yak/yak-9/yak-9_color4.html
http://airfighters.ru/golovach.php

(http://airfighters.ru/golovch0.jpg)

While this one depict it as a "-9M"
http://soviet-aces-1936-53.ru/abc/g/golovachv.htm

(http://soviet-aces-1936-53.ru/abc/g/golovach3.jpg)

Or maybe he flew both of them?
If I remember correctly, only thing that differentiates an "-9M" from "-9T" externally are the slightly more bulbous spinner and less-protruding gun barrel.
So, I would like Your help in determining which of these two it really was.

Hi,
I wonder if this is the only available photo of this plane.
http://airfield.narod.ru/yak/yak-9/color4/photo_yak-9t_12.jpg (http://airfield.narod.ru/yak/yak-9/color4/photo_yak-9t_12.jpg)
From this photo only, the types are undistinguishable, so I suspect that the spinner was drawn in fantasious way. If so,  I don't know any way to distinguish Yak-9M and T.
I can see some errors in details of the painting of both profiles, I hope that the decals don't reproduce them.
For what I know, Yak-9M entered service at the beginning of 1945. This would fit a new plane for a new commander of 900 IAP. Anyway I think that the Yak-9T  was still into production, so we can't exclude this type.
About the painting of the spinner, I wonder if there are photos of other Yak-9s of 900 IAP in the same time frame.
My guess is that one could make the model with a 'minimalist' grey spinner and gun for a Yak-9M, but glued weakly so that it could be modified into a Yak-9T, just in case new documents should emerge.
Regards
Massimo

Thanks for the photo. Indeed, no way to tell the exact version, since the rear fuselage was the same in both.


I am making the decals myself. Or masks... or maybe a decal/mask combo, so there's still room for adjustment.
What got me interested is the "upside-down-pik-as-in-a-white-circle-with-a-lightning-piercing-it-but-also-white-triangle-and-kill-marks" fuselage art. So over the top.
Might it have something to do with JG53 (e.g. being their long-time arch-nemesis)?

Hi,
well, it can be, the reversed pik is pierced by a sort of lightning and seems to allude just this.
Regards
Massimo

Hi,
I've asked Alex that sent this image.

(http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/yak179/Yak-9/Golov.jpg)
The image is sharper that the other ones, strangely it looks flipped.I wonder if this is the good side.

The type of plane is still unidentified, both M and T are possible.
Someone is researching about documents on the calibre of the shells loaded on his plane, that could give a definitive answer.

Regards
Massimo

Hi Massimo,
note the watches on his left hand, e.g. picture could be oriented correctly.

I have found this picture:
(http://modeli3d.ru/_nw/95/96626119.jpg)
If it is his plane on the left photo, then note the spinner and nose.

Regards,
  66misos

Hi Misos,
thank you, beautiful drawing.
The photo of the nose looks of a Yak-1, the angulation of the intake is different.
I think that Golovachev flew Yak-1s before P-39s, so in another unit; so, the painting of the spinner had no relation to that of the Yak-9M of 900 iap.
Regards
Massimo

Thank You both for the photos and information.
The scoreboard makes more sense on the port side.

Strange that the tail star has the red outline, while fuselage star lacks it.
Might this suggest an earlier variant, i. e. Yak-9T?

Unless the photo is retouched, the thin outline of the star on the tail looks black to my eye.
The idea that it could be indicative of the age of the plane is interesting, it would require a further comparison to photos of both Yak-9T and M.
Regards
Massimo

These two images show the correct (port) side of the aircraft - the other images are flipped, as you suggest. Yak-9's, including the -9T and -9M, had a trapezoidal access panel on the port side which was not present on the starboard side. Part of the edge of this panel is faintly visible at about the 5:00 o'clock position in the white area surrounding the "ace of spades" marking, proving that the photo shows the port side. This does not answer the question of whether it's a Yak-9T or a Yak-9M, though.

The colour of the lightning flash through the ace of spades is also arguable - I've seen it shown as blue (the Yak-9M profile above), black (the Yak-9T profile and the Print Scale 1/72 decal sheet), and red (Foxbot 1/72 decal sheet). Red seems unlikely - the lightning flash is much darker than the red stars - but black or a very dark blue are both possible.

John

Indeed, the more I look at the photo, the more it seems it is not black, nor red.
So, a very dark blue it is!

Would it be a "reasonable enough guess" to repeat everything, except kill marks, on the starboard side?

Hi John,

you have resolved at least one of the little misteries of this photo.

I think yes. The marks seem made by a stencil, so it wouldn't be a big work to replicate them on the other side.


My guess would be for dark red.

Regards
Massimo

That's interesting - if I was building a model of this aircraft, I really would like to use the Foxbot decals, which provide the marking in red. The designer of these decals (Aleksandar Pavlygin, "foxbot" on scalemodels.ru forum) occasionally posts an explanation of his research. I looked for something like that on the Russian forum, but in this case I found nothing.

John

Hi John,
it should be much darker than the color of the stars. I am trying to imagine some trick to darken a red decal without affecting the white outline or the clean film, but it's not easy.
Regards
Massimo

I did. He claims it to be a "-9M"

WIP discussion (http://www.greenmats.club/topic/376-%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%8B%D0%B9-%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82-%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C-%D0%BD%D0%B0-%D1%8F%D0%BA-9/)
finished 1/48th set discussion (http://www.greenmats.club/topic/771-%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8-%D0%BD%D0%B0-%D1%8F%D0%BA-9%D0%BC%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%B4%D0%B4%D1%82%D0%B4-foxbot-48-006-%D0%B8-48-008/)

I have bought the excellent Foxbot dec set, and also contacted Aleksandar "The Foxbot" Pavlygin about this machine.
He gave me this link with a couple more photos of this unit:
http://ava.org.ru/iap/900.htm

If we assume that the third pic (with the spiral) is of the same aircraft as the above two, then it is indeed a "-9M".
But this could be risky guesswork if a photo of the entire aircraft of Golovachev shows up one day.

But how insane it would look if (on top of "pik-as" emblem + lightning + white-triangle + kill marks) he also decided to add a spinner spiral?

Regards,
Aleksandar