Good day and happy New Year to all.
Forced by DGen which requires mandatory at least a "Reconplane" and a "Staff" planes to mate Normandie-Niemen fighters (if undefined it gives two randomly picked Russian aircraft) - while the "Reconplane" could easily be the Po-2, I had no idea about the "Staff" one. After a brief search, I saw Normandie-Niemen used the Yak-6 in this role, so i got intrigued into this for me so far unknown aircraft.
Here follows, in short, what I found:
From
Wikipedia:
"The Yakovlev Yak-6 was a Soviet twin-engined utility aircraft, developed and built during World War II. It was used as a short-range light night bomber and a light transport.
...
The design was required to be simple to build and operate... the first prototype Yak-6 flying in June 1942... powered by two 140 hp Shvetsov M-11F radial engines driving two-bladed wooden propellers... the aircraft's fuel tanks were made of chemical-impregnated plywood rather than metal or rubber. Many Yak-6s were fitted with fixed landing gear... two versions, one as a transport and utility aircraft for the supply of partisans, transport of the wounded, and for liaison and courier services... The second version was a light night bomber (designated NBB - nochnoy blizhniy bombardirovshchik - Short Range Night Bomber), capable of carrying up to 500 kg of bombs on racks under the wing centre sections and with a defensive armament of a single ShKAS machine gun in a dorsal mounting. A total of 381 examples were built with production ending in 1943.
The Yak-6 was used with great effect at the front lines in the Great Patriotic War both as a transport and as a bomber, proving popular with its crews, although the potential for the aircraft to enter a spin if overloaded or carelessly handled resulting in production ending in 1943... By 1944, most operational units of the VVS had a Yak-6 as a utility aircraft. In the Battle for Berlin, the Yak-6 was fitted with rocket launchers under the wings for ten 82-mm RS-82 missiles for use against ground targets. After the end of the Second World War, some Yak-6s were supplied to allies, while it remained in large scale service with Soviet forces until 1950."
At the excellent
Massimo Tessitori's site many useful references and links about Yak-6 are provided. Here follow some drawings:
all drawings are downloadable in printable form clicking on
THIS link.
I would like to ask TD here to realize this plane, not necessarily flyable, for game versions 4.14: that would be a significant contribute to historical inventory.
Thanks for your attention,
GB