THE FULL STORY OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL JET TRAINERS IN AVIATION HISTORY "'l l',, , l) ),i t{ i ll /ii,, I i il ll^, i' : '', ;i I AERO 1.39 ALBATROS 4 /: ,- ond fomily D A IN ASSOCIATION WITH ,t.? ,,, 'li'r',' .1,. ,. t; ,1 E t^ --- D>-=_ q;.*_.._. ----\- THE FIRST TURBOFAN TRAINER DIAMONDS IN THE SIff The L-39 is born L-39 Aerobotic teoms ARMED AND ADVANCED A TRAINER FOR THE WORLD o?o) o):=4 The L-39 in globol oir forces ari v': Developing the breed o: O: g) .A EU):v n5r-m ;gs$e :: -vr o) - .), 5r -nlEc^ 'A -o)-- t -)-.lf Walter Aero Engines, atJinonice in Prague, was mass producing jet engines and both the the early evolution of jet propulsion. F or rnilitary operators, these aircraft also The L-29 - Aero's first brought with them a new set of operational problems, one of which was in the training of jet pilots. At the tirne, pilots began flying simple trainer piston engined aircraft as had always been the By case, this basic flying stage eliminating those the mid-195os milit ary training aircraftwere students who lacked the aptitude for flight. predominantly piston engined, yet the air forces From here, more complex aircraft would be used for advanced training, many of these being of the world were largely equipped or steadily powerful piston engined tailwheel aircraft re-equipping with jet aircraft. It became apparent sirnilar to those that hacl been used in the Second World War, such as the T-6 in the US, that an efficient jet powered trainer was both Balliol in the UK and Yak-11 in the Soviet Union a priority a the latter also being built under licence by Let and necessity, one Aero was ideally in Czechoslovakia. Then, those students with placed to fill. the aptitude for fighters would begin training on the few two seat jet aircraft that existed at the time, all of which were converted fighters such as the T:33, the Meteor T Mk.7 and the MiG 15UTI. That last transition was the problem, moving from tailwheel piston aircraft to nosewheel jet types was a tremendous jump requiring additional hours of flyingjust to introduce the basic handling of the new aircrafl. The tailwheel piston trainers required a very different set of flying ski11s to those needed by the jets and those tailwheel skil1s would never be needed by the students again, \ making them an anachronism in a modern air '-- force, and a costly one at that, in terms of both time and money. -- It was quickly realised that what was neede: was a simple, reliable jet trainer, one that was cheap to operate and maintain, to replace the more advanced piston engined trainers. If this new trainer could also carrv out more advance: 1 I I .:4 T t>-= 1 l I :-cprototypewosthefirstto{|y,buipoweredbyoBristolsidd|e|eyASV-8Viper.Note TOM-8 wqs bY the greoteriwe"6 to trb leoding edge of the fin os well os the rounded ABOVE: The Produced .creen ond tne o zkuiebni letecky 0stov' VZLU or chonge iri lhe production oircroft' Pqvel Kudeto Vvzkumnv : oll of which would Aeronoulicol Reseorch ond Tesl Institute in 1 956. Editor's collection - : XLE- l 0 troiner prolotype. Ediior's collection which provccl unreliablc irttcl again t1-rc projcct oI tliis stage In 1956, auother attempt to producc an ,lso tt:r1ttce the cost thc nccd for' traitrer was tlade when thc TOM 8 was clroppccl. By this tinre however, lts ircligenr,rtrs prclilnilary the Vyzhuniny a zhu5c$ni a jet tlaincr hacl bceu t'ealisecl and -, iLt vcrsions o[ l-Jre f ighters could was prorltrt:ecl1ty Rescarch stuclies resulLed irr the MNO issuiug a ' rnlY lbr ollerational convcrsiotl letcclrl; irstav, YZI 'll or Acrotlatttical body for spcci[ication ftrr such atr ait'cralt in lhc sr:cortcl tlrisc or sinrilar tYPcs A basic and'l'cst IlstilLttc, thc tnatlagcttrtllt thc' ccnLritl desi.qtl agctrcY halI oI l95ir : LIr itrtcntrtrcliatc capabilitics 'l'lrr: tt:an undcr chit:1' 'l'lrc 'l'O\'l ,9 tr:rs br thi' 2l)01r1r unitct'l design ()L o lliill(o training a nlttch lloivt'r.ct1 lljlot Zdcndl< Itublit arttl Kttrtrl 'lirnrh3 beg^atl ) T'r':Lga I)ot'is \l'2()iiC LlrLt srr lli:torl errgilrc rlcsigrtcl :ll l)focOss, rerdttt:ittg the Ilying ' ,'d irnd the cos1, llol to mcntiott thtr tltt' sttrdents thetlsclvcs ,lisittion was to lt:acl to thc . t ol blsic jet 1l'aiucrs wor'ldwicle In ('essna'I)l|7 wou1t1 cuttrt gt: 1 oward .hc 1950s, whcrcas il tlrt: UI(, a given -itrt:rl lraincr was l'tl clttgitri:d and Lt ttdcrcat'ria.gc [o bctr-rlrte 1 he.l c:t . - Itc Sovit:L UttioLr was also iulcreslccl , e lo;ttttctt I oI strch iL 1 ypel atlcl th rr:cl ., s rvoLLltl llrodttct: l)rotolyl)cs lor a Y, ion hLld in 1961 ,-f;i€s{r ,i llrest: was Aelo's f irsl jct tlcsigtr, btrt ol- lhtr ztircrall wns to llcgirl tlrtrcll i is o very eorly production The Aero L-2g on disploy in ihe Progue Aeronquticol Museum Ir i950, the l\{NO was looltirtg [o rcltl:Lce ABOVE: fitted to the foiring ol the top oircro{t wilh the nose 1nountLa ionding ligit ond the pitot stotic tube ,11o Ar lXi pistol ettgitlccl Lrititlt:r, l<nown of the fin Edilor t 2 in Czt:cl-roslovahiir, witlt it rrtore ;r versiotr 'f hc closiglr lcittrls oI Avia ancl rcspondecl to tllis re<1uilr:nrt:trt wilh twtr .r.aircral.t, thc XLll 10 iLrrd tlre Xl,A l-r4' :rrrvclecl by thtr 580lrp M 4l1ll, a licence t ctsiotr oI Llrtr Argtrs As 411 I lrc ct:nl-riL]iscd clesign agcncy zLlso incltrdcd :rnrurt pLotrtlype worl<shop wlticll was rild botlr a!rcrllt, neitl're r ol.which was ctcd for pt'odttt:tion cluc ttt pcrlor tllallce -- rr's. I}oth desigtr tearns attcrllr|-ctl to rcsolve , se issr.tcrs irr 1951 by rc cugiuirrg their aircralt ' ih t he 700hp Wrlter M-'146 V12 engine to ,rrluce thc Avia XLll 110 antl I-ctov Xl,A 1ll4' iLl to no avail ancl thc pt'ojecls were clroppc:cl. Orc oI Acro's tcst pilots dtrling^ the Sccond \lrlcl WzLr, Karel VLrr6k, was killed in a lorccd :Lnclilg whiie lesting the XLil 110 or Deccmbcr .l 1951, when the craul<shalt in the rclatively Lntested M-446 blohe In orcier to lullil the .r'zrining recgirenreut, the Let factory at Iiunovice built the Yakll uncler licence as the C 11, over 700 being built for the Czechoslovak .\ir Force and lor cxport beginning in 1953 ABOVE RIGF[]I: One ot lhe L-29 protolvpes seen during flight testing ot the VZLU' fitfed ed wilh oddilionql probes ond oir dotq sensors to fully evoluote ihe oircrqft ond ils sysiems. Povel Kucerq RIGHT: The first L-29 powe]ed by lhe Motorlet d M-701 turboj now with fhe oroduction s PY, fin ond reor lr fuseloge. Fo The Aer-, L + :*'\5 SD- 0D3 AB@VE At'ID RIIGFIT: Two views of lhe third prototype L-29, 0003, os il oppeored ot Monino comporotive neor Moscow in Augustr ond september r 96r for the friqls lo seleci fhe nexi jel lroiner f,or the Sovief Air force. Fovti mrcero wolhing on Ploject C-29 as it was knowu, basing lb colrect this, an electrical linhage wrs issuecl i tl.re design n a clevelopment contract, No 03708 on rhr: 19601b (8.8hN) of rhrust_ prtvided betwceu the Ilaps and thc tailplanc clatcd February 1, 1957. 1'hesc available lrorr thc'Motorlet M-201 highly which was As tlie flaps were lowerccl or raisecl to tlteir. 'l'Lrc clctailed speci fications i rrcluded tLre requir.e:cl then in developnrcnt engitrt: was intenclecl 1ba cl pcrlorrratrce paranretc:rs [or- 1]re new trainer. spccilicaliy fol thc C-29 pr-oject arcl was the taill anrl listcd thc equilllent fi rst jet cngi no to bc dcsiglccl llte air-cr.a ft was to bc iLncl proclucerl ) c0ll ir Czcchoslovakia. Iittcd with, Llly i recl It was irt tlris poirrt that ljre C 29 pr.ojcct A sirrgle shall ct:ntrifrrgiLl turbojet, llie M-701 fi rst iLt tllctcd t lic oIIici:Li i ntt:rest ol' thc Sovict wtLs l-irst lun in gt.ouncl triirls il 1g58 bclore 'l'hc plcssurised twin cbchpits werc litLccl Airlior', :rs iI rvasalso Joolring bcing tcst Ilowrr in an Ilyrrshin forabiLsicji:l IL 28 testlterl with ejccl.or seiLts uncler irrclividual canoltics in l)ecc'nrber-1959 traincr-, rt nror-c of tliis later'. Likc tlrc ain:riLfl it wrrs tlral corrkl bc jcl-tisoncd '1'lrc by silrplr: pncunirLIic l.ir.stjc1 irir-cra[l tlcsigned in irrtendr:d Io lrowcr, thc engine wrts clesig.rrctl to pistons l.1ial laiscd thcir lcacling edg.e illo tlrc CzecIroslov:Llria nrade /l: sirrltlt: zrnd reli:Ll;lc, prcciscJy its nraickl fligb1 1he ltirilruhs slipsLlearl. Onc urrtLsual lctLtLrr ol-tJic crrr,lipit. lronr l(bi:ly air'field on April S, ll)5t), in the rurosL nrcltrired in:L tr.aiucr-.'l'he C_29 clLrickly took wasthczrbilily ol tltc ;1.' ilstr-Lrctt il lltc r.r:lr..r,iLl lr rLncls ul lest pilot Jl Lrdol I I)uchoir shzL;rc as a sl raiglr t. ])uc to w ingctl aircrall. w il lt a lo lurn oI varirxrs syslcnts in t]rr'Ir(,lL r.,)e li )iI clt'vclopnront clclays tlte M 701 cngi nc was lrot [:ril.and a nraxirluni wcigLt ol 66001b (l]000kg) tt'sti ' lg the sltrtlcrrt ltv sirtLrlir i r r l.