Yak-9D, M.I. Grib, 6 giap VVS ChMF By Michal Sekula |
Updated on April 20 , 2020
|
Mikhail Ivanovich was born in October 2, 1919. He fought in GPW from June 1941
in different regiments within Airforce of Black See Fleet. He served in 8 iap,
latter renamed to 6 giap, until end of WWII. By August 1942 he achieved 10 aerial
victories. And so in October 23, 1942 he was awarded by Gold Medal of Hero of
the Soviet Union. Grip HSU, 22 victories. His total score during WWII was 10
individual and 12 group victories.
More about Yak-9 family in English at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakovlev_Yak-9
and in Russian (with line drawings etc.) at
http://www.airfield.narod.ru/yak/yak-9/yak-9.html and https://coollib.com/b/261705/read.
Yak-9D, M.I. Grib, 6 giap, part of VVS ChMF (Air Force of the Black See Fleet):
The plane is camouflaged according to the NKAP 1943 order with blue grey AMT-11
and dark grey AMT-12 on the upper surfaces with light blue AMT-7 on the bottom
surfaces.
Grib’s plane, same as other ones, is weathered and colors are bleached
hard matt, while engine cover is darker and glossy - it is either repainted
or dirty and greasy due to regular manipulation. Left wing looks at least partially
repainted – colors are dark and borders of camouflage colors are more
sharp and straight than on the rest of the plane.
Red Banner and Guard Unit emblems are painted on the nose. 6 starlets painted
on the tail symbolize aerial victories.
The profile in the full resolution should be published in the book Soviet Fighters
of the Second World War by Jason Nicholas Moore.
I also colorized the well-known photo some time ago:
Photo of the original:
Yak-9/-9D/-9B had 20mm motor cannon with internal cartridge shell accumulation
and 12,7mm cowling machine gun with external shell ejection through the wing
root.
Disclaimer:
this work collects a lot of photos from many sources, not always identified
and mentioned.
If someone has rights on the images reproduced on this site, please don't feel
hurted, email to me and I shall provide to remove or to credit them.
massimo.tessitori(nospam)@libero.it
(remove (nospam))