The Yak-9T was preceded on the production lines by a small number of Yak-7-37 fighters. The Yak-7-37 was conceived as a heavy fighter, to attack "close air support aircraft, bombers, and ground targets." (Kosminkov) It was a modified Yak-7B. A small series of 22 aircraft was completed, with the more reliable Nudelman-Suranov NS-37, and leading edge slats to improve low-speed handling.
In August '42 these were assigned to the 42nd regiment, commanded by F.I. Shinkarenko. Shinkarenko is quoted as follows by Konstantin Kosminkov (in
Le Fana de l'Aviation of October 1994, I translate the French translation of the Russian original to English):
The 37mm cannon had been intended by the engineers to destroy enemy bombers, and it was more difficult to use it against smaller and more agile fighters. Nevertheless, on the North-Western Front, we only rarely encountered bombers, and we more often escorted ground attack missions or flew cover above ground troops. The gun of the Yak-7B proved to be a very effective and reliable weapon against enemy fighters... At first, when we only had machine guns and 20 mm cannon, we tried to approach enemy aircraft very closely and opened fire from a very short distance, almost point-blank range. With the new cannon we could aim with confidence at a distance of several hundred meters. One or two hits were sufficient to make the fascist fighter explode.
For the Yak-9T Kosminkov cites firing distances of 100 to 400 m against fighters and 500 to 600 m against bombers, with a maximum range of 1000 to 1200 m.
The Yak-7-37 did not enter large-scale production, because the better Yak-9T came along. Production of the Yak-9T began in March 1943. One of the pilots of the type was Shinkarenko, then commander of the 133rd Guards regiment, evidently a satisfied customer:
The entirety of the personnel of my unit wishes to thank the designers of this new armament (...) Our pilots flying the Yak-9T have downed 49 enemy aircraft in four days of combat, losing only four of our own.
According to Kosminkov (in
Le Fana de l'Aviation, December 1994):
The arrival in substantial numbers on the front of the Yak-9T made a big impression on the Germans and forced them to modify their tactics, especially those of the Fw 190A. The latter had a very reliable air-cooled BMW engine, effective armour and very powerful 20mm cannon. As they were slower and much less manoeuverable than the Yak-1, -7 and -9, their pilots preferred to attack the Yak head-on, because they had better chances to win that way. But the arrival of the Yak-9T with its impressive firepower forced the Germans to quickly abandon head-on attacks against all Yak fighters, because it was very hard to distinguish between those armed with 37mm cannon and the others.
Emmanuel Gustin
