Yak 52

A long time ago when I was an accountant in a small practice I was sent along to Coventry Airport to prepare the accounts for a small flying club. It was summer 1992 or 1993 and the days were long and hot. As I was working I was listening to the air traffic on the VHF radio in the club office and trying to build a picture of what was going on. I soon got talking to some of the flying instructors and booked my first trial flight which was a fabulous experience. I took to it immediately and started building up some flying hours under instruction. I also started to study for the written examinations the first of which was Air Law. A month or so later I sat my Air Law exam with another guy called Rob. We both passed and Rob invited me to the local pub for a pint to celebrate. It turned out that Rob was a small business man and he asked me if I’d be interested in preparing his accounts and tax return. I of course said yes and arranged to meet him at his house later in the week to go through the paperwork. When I arrived, his daughter was sitting in the living room and I took a shine to her immediately. My kids call him “Grandad Rob” now!

A few years later at a different flying club at Wellesbourne Airfield both Rob and I booked a flight with the former Russian aerobatic champion. I’d done a bit of aerobatics on the Slingsby Firefly, but that’s a tame club aeroplane compared to the YAK 52 which is a Russian military trainer. Russia trains its pilots on Yaks before they move onto fast jets. The Yak 52 looks a heavy beast on the ground but when it’s airborne it’s light and responsive. It’s also incredibly strong and stressed to +9/-7G (I think that’s right) which is more than most people can take. I know that coming out of one manouvre I started to get tunnel vision and I’d flown aero’s before.

This clip is Gennady Elfimov who I flew with and the aircraft is the aircraft we flew in. Enjoy