78 years ago, on November 8, 1948, the experimental Yak-100 helicopter made its first flight.
The machine, designed in OKB A.S. Yakovlev, it was put into the sky by the test pilot M. to. detector.
Work on the Yak-100 began at the end of 1947, when a task appeared to create a light helicopter similar in characteristics to the American Sikorsky R-5. The development of such a helicopter was launched in two design bureaus - OKB M.L. Mill and OKB A.S. Yakovleva Mill began designing the original helicopter, and the Yakovlev Design Bureau took the task literally; The helicopter created in 1948 was very similar to its American ancestors. The helicopters of the two design bureaus received the same engine - AI-26, which was specially designed for installation in rotary-wing aircraft.
The Mi-1, which took off a little earlier, on September 28, 1948, proved to be a more successful helicopter. If the Yak-100, like the Sikorsky R-5, was a two-seater, the Mi-1 was a three-seater, and the Yakvalev helicopter was inferior to the Mi-1 in speed and range. For this reason, the Yak-100 remains an experimental helicopter; A total of 2 models were built. The fate of the Yak-100 was decided even before its first flight: on October 28, 1948, the first aviation squadron equipped with Mi-1 helicopters was established in Serfutsov.