Operational History
Yak-12s first entered service in the Soviet Air Force as a liaison and artillery observation plane. Then, they were used also in the Soviet civilian aviation – mostly in the DOSAAF aero club for transport, pilot training, parachute training, and glider towing. They were also used as air ambulances and agricultural aircraft.
Apart from the USSR, Yak-12s were used in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia (civil and military), and Hungary (civil). Licence-built Shenyangs were used in China and other countries. In some countries, including Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, the Russian name was transcribed as Jak-12.
In the Polish Air Force, about 90 Yak-12s were used from 1951, as liaison, patrol, and general utility planes. Most were withdrawn in the 1970s, the last in the 1980s. Most were next handed over to civil aviation. In Poland, the first civilian model was acquired in 1952, and larger numbers were used from the 1960s (at least 79). They were used mostly in regional aeroclubs for pilot training, parachute training, transport, and glider towing. 21 were used as air ambulances.
Some civil Yak-12s (mostly Yak-12A) remain in use in 2006.
On July 12, 2012, a Yak-12 owned by Canada's Kinross Gold Corporation, crashed shortly after takeoff from an airport in Nouakchott, Mauritania.
Read more about this topic: Yakovlev Yak-12
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