The Stolen Soviet Jet Fighters | CIA's Secret Cold War Covert Operations | The Yak-23 скачать в хорошем качестве

The Stolen Soviet Jet Fighters | CIA's Secret Cold War Covert Operations | The Yak-23

This is the story of how the U.S.A. acquired a Soviet jet fighter during the Cold War: the Yak-23 Flora. The operation was codenamed: "Project Alpha." The story is still a partially classified Cold War operation that occurred in the 1950s. Both aircraft were powered by the copies of Rolls Royce turbojet engines, directly derived from British inventor Sir Frank Whittle. Perhaps the most interesting operation, and the most secret of the two, is the one of the Yak-23. In October 1953, intelligence agents of a Balkan country approached the Central Intelligence Agency resident in their nation, offering to hand over to the US a current Soviet-built fighter—a Yak-23 Flora—on a very short-term basis. Thus began a project involving a small number of Air Force and CIA personnel. It was called “Project Alpha.” The Air Force declassified much of the project’s technical material in the mid-1990s, but it had expunged the names of the Balkan countries involved, and three foreign officials were sent as escorts. The CIA was even less forthcoming. Fifty years after the fact, the agency refused to divulge any information. It would not even acknowledge that such a project ever existed. However, interviews with some Air Force personnel who participated in Project Alpha have helped to lift the veil. The story went something like this: Agents of an unnamed Balkan country (call it “Balkan Country No. 1”) knew a crated Yak-23 fighter was being transported by train through their country to another nation—Balkan Country No. 2. The agents of No. 1 suggested that the US could take the fighter, study it, flight-test it, and then return it in the crates exactly as it had been picked up. Soon, all parties shook hands on the deal. USAF sent a C-124 to Balkan Country No. 1. The C-124 flew the crated and disassembled Yak-23, along with the three foreign escorts, to USAF’s Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) at Wright-Patterson AFB... Specifications (Yak-23) General characteristics Crew: 1 Length: 8.13 m (26 ft 8 in) Wingspan: 8.73 m (28 ft 8 in) Height: 3.31 m (10 ft 10 in) Wing area: 13.5 m2 (145 sq ft) Empty weight: 1,980 kg (4,365 lb) Gross weight: 3,384 kg (7,460 lb) Powerplant: 1 × Klimov RD-500 centrifugal-flow turbojet engine, 15.6 kN (3,500 lbf) thrust Performance Maximum speed: 925 km/h (575 mph, 499 kn) at sea level Range: 1,200 km (750 mi, 650 nmi) Service ceiling: 14,800 m (48,600 ft) Rate of climb: 47 m/s (9,300 ft/min) Thrust/weight: 0.46 Armament Guns: 2 × 23 mm Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 with 90 rpg Guns: 2 × 23 mm Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 autocannon in the lower left fuselage (80 rounds per gun, 160 rounds total) 1 × 37 mm Nudelman N-37 autocannon in the lower right fuselage (40 rounds total) Hardpoints: 2, with provisions to carry combinations of: Bombs: 100 kg (220 lb) bombs Other: drop tanks or unguided rockets Yak-23 General characteristics Crew: 1 Length: 8.13 m (26 ft 8 in) Wingspan: 8.73 m (28 ft 8 in) Height: 3.31 m (10 ft 10 in) Wing area: 13.5 m2 (145 sq ft) Empty weight: 1,980 kg (4,365 lb) Gross weight: 3,384 kg (7,460 lb) Powerplant: 1 × Klimov RD-500 centrifugal-flow turbojet engine, 15.6 kN (3,500 lbf) thrust Performance Maximum speed: 925 km/h (575 mph, 499 kn) at sea level Range: 1,200 km (750 mi, 650 nmi) Service ceiling: 14,800 m (48,600 ft) Rate of climb: 47 m/s (9,300 ft/min) Thrust/weight: 0.46 Armament Guns: 2 × 23 mm Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 with 90 rpg Watch more aircraft, heroes, and their stories and missions ➤    / @dronescapes   To support/join the channel ➤    / @dronescapes   IG ➤   / dronescapesvideos   FB ➤   / dronescapesvideos   X/Twitter ➤ https://dronescapes.video/2p89vedj THREADS ➤ https://www.threads.net/@dronescapesv... #avation #aircraft #coldwar