A member of the second generation of Russian aircraft designers and best known for fighter designs, Aleksandr S. Yakovlev always retained a light aircraft design section. In May, 1945 Yakovlev initiated the design of the Yak-18 two-seat primary trainer. He designed it to replace the earlier Yakovlev UT-2 and Yak-5 in service with the Soviet Air Force and DOSAAF(Voluntary Society for Collaboration with the Army, Air Force and Navy, which sponsored aero clubs throughout the USSR). The new aircraft flew a year later powered by a Shvetsov M-11 five-cylinder radial engine and featuring a retractable tailwheel landing gear. The design proved exceptionally easy to build and maintain and it continues in production today, 55 years later, in two of its many variants: the four-seat Yak-18T and the two-seat Yak-54. The Yak-18 became the standard trainer for Air Force flying schools and DOSAAF, and is currently in wide use in China as well as many other nations.

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