Yak-9UT
This page is about the Soviet fighter Yak-9UT. For other uses, see Yak-9 (Family). |
Contents
Description
The Yak-9UT is a rank IV Soviet fighter with a battle rating of 6.0 (AB), 5.7 (RB), and 6.3 (SB). It was introduced in Update 1.37.
General info
Flight performance
The Yak-9UT has an extremely high acceleration rate which is enhanced compared to earlier Yaks due to using the new Klimov M-107 engine. Unfortunately, like all Yaks, it has a poor engine performance at high altitude, though not as bad as VK-105 powered Yaks. It also has good manoeuvrability that gets better at higher speeds (above 400 km/h), but you will still be outmanoeuvred by Zeroes and Spitfires. Keep in mind that the ailerons will start to compress above 500 km/h
The Yak-9UT doesn't have any the ability to carry bombs, however, it does have access to other gun configuration options many other aircraft do not have. By default, you have twin B-20S 20 mm cannons mounted on the top of the nose cowling and a single 23 mm cannon mounted in the propeller shaft, you have also access to the twin B-20S and an N-37 37 mm cannon with higher damage but less ammo and fire rate. Finally, the last gun setting, a single B-20S and an N-45 45 mm cannon with only HEFI-T rounds (High Explosive Fragmentation Incendiary Tracers) that has a benefit of higher bullet speed and an additional round of ammo over the 37 mm configuration.
Characteristics | Max Speed (km/h at 5,000 m) |
Max altitude (metres) |
Turn time (seconds) |
Rate of climb (metres/second) |
Take-off run (metres) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AB | RB | AB | RB | AB | RB | |||
Stock | 651 | 634 | 10500 | 20.2 | 20.8 | 14.9 | 14.9 | 380 |
Upgraded | 696 | 672 | 18.8 | 19.3 | 22.3 | 18.3 |
Details
Features | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Combat flaps | Take-off flaps | Landing flaps | Air brakes | Arrestor gear |
X | X | ✓ | X | X |
Limits | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wings (km/h) | Gear (km/h) | Flaps (km/h) | Max Static G | |||
Combat | Take-off | Landing | + | - | ||
0 | 320 | N/A | N/A | 280 | ~11 | ~8 |
Optimal velocities (km/h) | |||
---|---|---|---|
Ailerons | Rudder | Elevators | Radiator |
< 400 | < 420 | < 490 | > 450 |
Compressor (RB/SB) | ||
---|---|---|
Setting 1 | ||
Optimal altitude | 100% Engine power | WEP Engine power |
1,890 m | 1,650 hp | 1,749 hp |
Setting 2 | ||
Optimal altitude | 100% Engine power | WEP Engine power |
4,500 m | 1,500 hp | 1,590 hp |
Survivability and armour
The aircraft features
- Single frontal 64 mm bulletproof glass plate.
- Single rear 64mm bulletproof glass plate located at the headrest of the cockpit.
- 8mm steel plate located behind the pilot's seat.
Modifications and economy
Armaments
Offensive armament
The Yak-9UT is armed with:
- A choice between three presets:
- 1 x 23 mm NS-23 cannon, nose-mounted (80 rpg) + 2 x 20 mm B-20S cannons, nose-mounted (120 rpg = 240 total)
- 1 x 37 mm N-37 cannon, nose-mounted (28 rpg) + 2 x 20 mm B-20S cannons, nose-mounted (120 rpg = 240 total)
- 1 x 45 mm NS-45 cannon, nose-mounted (29 rpg) + 1 x 20 mm B-20S cannon, nose-mounted (170 rpg)
Usage in battles
Since this aircraft has a very high low-to-middle altitude acceleration, you should use this plane primarily as a dogfighter at those altitudes. It is also important to note that this plane like all Yaks and like most other Soviet-built fighters, low high-altitude performance, however, even at higher altitudes, this fighter can be used as a Boom & Zoom aircraft, provided you pay attention to your speed. Turn-fighting and dogfighting above 4500 meters are discouraged as at this altitude, many other aircraft will have superior turn capabilities and engine performance compared to the Yak-9UT, leaving it to struggle for any flight advantage.
While performance tends to suffer at higher altitudes, when kept closer to the ground, the Yak's performance starts to shine. This is especially true with its energy retention, such as performing a ~270-degree turn with minimal kph lost (~30 kph) and the ability to regain this speed extremely fast.
Engaging fighters & bombers
Most enemy fighters will be between 3,000 and 4,500 meters, with bombers being around 4,000 to 5,600 meters. It's important to use your height advantage, drop down from your height and get behind the enemy. Once behind the fighter or bomber, do not engage it until you are close enough to see their tails in your crosshairs. Aim forward and fire only a single shot or a short bust, if armed with the 45 mm cannon (which is no longer than two seconds). Using the 37 mm N-37 cannon or the 23 mm NS-23 cannon, use a bust which is around two and half seconds.
If you miss your shot and they turn, depending on how sharp their turn is, follow them. If it's a very sharp turn do not make the turn, instead, open the throttle and climb back up to gain a height advantage. Once here, you can then attempt to line up another shot on them or find a new target to go after.
While the earlier Yak-9T/K are able to reliably destroy enemies at their lower BR, the Yak-9UT will struggle to inflict serious damage to medium and heavy tanks with the 45mm, while the 37mm is barely capable of penetrating most medium tanks even from high angles of attack, and the 23mm is all but useless against these targets. Still, it will often require multiple accurate passes with the 45mm to knock out the crew of such tanks, and with the limited ammunition supply of 29 rounds, a more reliable yet slower strategy is to aim for the engine deck in order to set the tank's fuel alight multiple times and burn their FPE reserves, this has the added benefit of immobilising the target for a significant period of time, which may allow your team to capitalise on the enemy tank's lack of mobility in certain situations.
As can be ascertained, the Yak-9UT is ultimately rather unsuitable for CAS at it's BR, only truly effective at destroying light tanks and SPAA with the 37mm and 45mm. The 23mm and 20mm configuration has decent effect against such targets, but a diving attack is necessitated as both cannons will have very little effect at low-medium angles of attack against all but the most weakly armoured enemies.
The Yak-9UT is all but completely useless for attacking naval targets in Naval RB at it's BR. Thus...
In Ground RB and especially in Naval battles, the Yak-9UT is best suited as an air superiority fighter. As the 37mm and 45mm AP shells required to penetrate tanks provide extremely inconsistent damage against enemy air targets, and neither provide substantial post-pen damage against armoured targets. You will find much more success loading full HE belts and destroying enemy CAS.
MEC elements | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mixer | Pitch | Radiator | Supercharger | Turbocharger | ||
Oil | Water | Type | ||||
Controllable | Controllable Not auto controlled |
Controllable Not auto controlled |
Controllable Auto control available |
Separate | Controllable 2 gears |
Not controllable |
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Decent lower speed manoeuvrability that gets even better above 400 km/h (250 mph)
- Flaps are fast to deploy and are helpful if used properly
- Nose-mounted 23 mm and 37 mm cannons are effective against all types of aerial targets
- Able to choose between various cannons
- Decent low-to-mid altitude acceleration and climb
- Decent energy retention at lower altitudes
- Able to exceed 550 km/h IAS at low altitudes and 500 km/h IAS at 4,000 m
- Very short engine spool up and spool down time
Cons:
- Low diving speed (you lose wings over 720 km/h IAS)
- Low ammunition capacity for the cannon
- Engine easily overheats above 96% throttle (use 94 to 95% throttle to cool down)
- 20 mm B-20S cannons are very weak compared to contemporaries
- Engine power drops past 5 km altitude, which means less acceleration, climb, and overall speed
- Ailerons stiffen above 500 km/h
- Flaps break if fully deployed past 280 km/h IAS
- Flaps only have Landing position
- The 45 mm NS-45 cannon is a challenge to effectively use
- Unable to switch between the N-37 and the NS-23 without going back to the hangar
History
In-game description
The Yak-9 was a Soviet single-engine fighter of the WWII era. It was the first combat aircraft designed by Alexander Yakovlev's construction bureau. The most mass-produced Soviet fighter of the war, it remained in production from October 1942 to December 1948, with a total of 16,769 built.
The Yak-9 was a further modification of the Yak-1 and Yak-7. In its core design, it was a redesign of the Yak-7. With few external differences, Yak-9 was at the same time much more advanced internally. This is not unexpected, as almost two years of design and combat experience of the Yak series went into the Yak-9. Also, at the time aluminium was in much greater supply than it had been two years previously at the start of the war. Amongst other things, the use of metal allowed the plane's weight to be significantly reduced, meaning that more fuel could be stored and that the aircraft could be equipped with more powerful armament and more specialized equipment.
Media
- Skins
- Videos
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the series of the aircraft;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
A.S. Yakovlev Design Bureau (Яковлев Опытное конструкторское бюро) | |
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Fighters | |
Yak-1 | Yak-1 · Yak-1B |
Yak-3 | Yak-3 · Eremin's Yak-3(e) · Yak-3 (VK-107) · Yak-3P · Yak-3T · Yak-3U |
Yak-7 | Yak-7B |
Yak-9 | Yak-9 · Yak-9B · Yak-9K · Golovachev's Yak-9M · Yak-9P · Yak-9T · Yak-9U · Yak-9UT |
Twin-engine fighters | I-29 |
Jet fighters | |
Yak-15 | Yak-15P · Yak-15 |
Yak-17 | Yak-17 |
Yak-23 | Yak-23 |
Yak-30 | Yak-30D |
Yak-141 | Yak-141 |
Strike aircraft | |
Yak-2 | Yak-2 KABB |
Yak-38 | Yak-38 · Yak-38M |
Bombers | Yak-4 |
Jet bombers | Yak-28B |
Foreign use | ▄Yak-3 · Challe's ▄Yak-9T · ◔Yak-9P |
Captured | ▀Yak-1B |
USSR fighters | |
---|---|
I-15 | I-15 WR · I-15 M-22 · I-15 M-25 · I-15bis · Krasnolutsky's I-15bis |
I-153 M-62 · Zhukovsky's I-153-M62 · I-153P | |
I-16 | I-16 type 5 · I-16 type 10 · I-16 type 18 · I-16 type 24 · I-16 type 27 · I-16 type 28 · I-180S |
I-29 | I-29 |
I-185 | I-185 (M-71) · I-185 (M-82) |
I-225 | I-225 |
ITP | ITP (M-1) |
MiG-3 | MiG-3-15 · MiG-3-15 (BK) · MiG-3-34 |
LaGG | I-301 · LaGG-3-4 · LaGG-3-8 · LaGG-3-11 · LaGG-3-23 · LaGG-3-34 · LaGG-3-35 · LaGG-3-66 |
La | La-5 · La-5F · La-5FN · La-7 · Dolgushin's La-7 · La-7B-20 · La-9 · La-11 |
Yak-1/7 | Yak-1 · Yak-1B · Yak-7B |
Yak-3 | Yak-3 · Eremin's Yak-3(e) · Yak-3P · Yak-3T · Yak-3U · Yak-3 (VK-107) |
Yak-9 | Yak-9 · Yak-9B · Golovachev's Yak-9M · Yak-9T · Yak-9K · Yak-9U · Yak-9UT · Yak-9P |
Other countries | ▂P-40E-1 · ▂P-47D-27 · ▂Hurricane Mk IIB · ▂Fw 190 D-9 · ▂Spitfire Mk IXc |
P-39 | ▂P-39K-1 · ▂Pokryshkin's P-39N-0 · ▂P-39Q-15 |
P-63 | ▂P-63A-5 · ▂P-63A-10 · ▂P-63C-5 |