Yak-18 in Korea, 'Bedcheck Charlie' - bomb racks, colours?

[Troy Smith]

Having picked up  a 1/48 Modelsvit Yak-18 kit on sale, having read  about use in Korea as a nuisance night bomber, i  was going to ask  about  bomb rack, when google  turn up some information my initial searches did not

Including photos of one in the US,  part of the Air and  Space museum  collection



from http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?object=nasm_A19610014000

seems to be  on loan to  the USAF  museum



No real history given, whopps,not paying attention, a very interesting history!

The U.S. Air Force Museum, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, donated this Yak-18 to the National Air and Space Museum on July 13, 1960. The aircraft bears construction number 59, but no production or early service details are known. It participated in a 16-17 June 1953 "Bedcheck Charlie" night raid on Inchon, Korea, which resulted in the destruction of a 5-million-gallon gasoline dump. In late 1954, two North Korean pilots defected to South Korea aboard this Yak-18. The Air Force displayed the aircraft for several months before the U.S. Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson acquired it in August 1955. Assigned to ATIC's 1125th Field Activities Group, it was given tail number 47-715, painted with U.S. Army insignia, and designated "T-10G." The ATIC conducted flight tests from October 1955 to July 1957, and the Yak accumulated 110 flight hours. ATIC transferred it to the U. S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, and the museum displayed it with North Korean markings before transferring the airplane to NASM on 8 June 1960.

from this thread
http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=55179

so..looks this is the defector plane?
this image, i assume post Korean war  is interesting, note the odd angle  on  the star.




and this in the US while being tested.



any idea what the bombracks might be?   I can see asking on Hyperscale might turn up some info with it's  large US readership.

I'm wondering if the colour  is original.


seems there is  one  in War Memorial Museum - Seoul as well.

an overall dull colour makes more sense for  night use,so  I  presume the above is a museum repaint.



http://spioenkop.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/north-korea-forgotten-aircraft-yak-18cj.html


The kit  has multiple marking options, but no Korean option

there is a  Yak-18 facebook  page
https://www.facebook.com/yak18

Any additional information  would be  of interest, hope the above is to  other readers.

cheers
T

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi Troy,
I think that the plane '15' was painted with gloss green and gloss light blue, more or less as the one in the museum. If you look carefully at the wingtip of n.15, you can see the division line between green and blue between the reflection on the upper part and the shadow of the lower part.
Regards
Massimo