Yak-55
The Yakovlev Yak-55 — Russia's single-seat unlimited-aerobatic monoplane that established Yakovlev's late-Cold-War competition reputation — captured as a sport-scale RC model.
About
The Yakovlev Yak-55 is a Russian single-seat unlimited-aerobatic monoplane designed at the Yakovlev OKB and first flown in 1981. The type entered Soviet competition aerobatic service shortly after, and Soviet pilots flew Yak-55s through the 1980s World Aerobatic Championships — establishing Yakovlev as a serious competitor against the Western European Extras and CAPs that were beginning to dominate the unlimited circuit.
The Yak-55 was powered by the Vedeneyev M-14P 360-hp radial engine — the same engine family that would later power the Sukhoi Su-26 and the Yakovlev Yak-50, Yak-52, and Yak-54. The airframe is mid-wing rather than the more common low-wing layout of Western aerobats, with the wing positioned to give equally clean handling upright and inverted. A semi-reclined pilot seating position and the +9/-6 g certified envelope made the type capable of the full unlimited-class aerobatic vocabulary of its era.
The Yak-55M variant introduced in 1989 added refinements that informed the later Yak-54 development. Production has continued in small numbers across the post-Soviet decades, and surviving Yak-55s continue to fly competitively at unlimited-aerobatic fly-ins. The unmistakable Russian-aerobat silhouette — pugnacious, short-coupled, with the classic Yakovlev flat-fronted cowling — is one of the most-modeled Russian aerobatic subjects in modern RC scale flying.
In the simulator
A demanding aerobatic mount with the heavier feel of a Sukhoi/Yakovlev competition airframe. Use it for the unlimited-aerobatic vocabulary: vertical lines, knife-edge passes, slow rolls, and hovering on the prop. A natural sibling of the Yak 55 (Electric) variant in this same pack, the Yak 54 family across the broader catalog, and the Sukhoi Su-26/Su-31 family — Russian unlimited-aerobatic competition history in one progression.
