The beast gets its paperwork

March 2008 After a long eight week wait for the beast's airworthiness inspection to be conducted and its certificate of airworthiness to be issued, it was rolled out onto the grass ready for a round of ground taxiing tests.

 

Business end of Yak-50 serial number 853101. Its large 2.4 m (7.9 ft) diameter propeller is connected to a 9 cylinder, 10 litre capacity, 360 hp supercharged Vedeneyev M-14P radial engine.


Starting a radial engine is show of noise, smoke and sound. The M-14P engine actually starts easily, despite the drama. The noise, smoke and sound are just to keep up the "warbird" image! I shut down the engine after completing the ground taxiing test and pronounced myself satisfied with the bird. Flight testing will follow in the next few days.