Yakovlev Yak-5

The Yakovlev Yak-5 was an experimental fighter-trainer designed by the Yakovlev bureau that first flew on 7 September 1944. It was based on the UT-2L, an enclosed-cockpit development of the standard UT-2 trainer, but it was a single-seat low-wing wooden monoplane with a sliding canopy and a retractable tailwheel undercarriage, powered by a 115 hp Shvetsov M-11D radial. Test pilots liked its handling and it passed official evaluation, but the Soviet Air Force thought wooden aircraft were becoming obsolete and the all-metal Yak-18 went into production instead. The sole Yak-5 was lost when its wooden wing failed in a snap roll.