Testing
Two prototypes were built. Each remained unpainted. They were found to be only slightly heavier than the earlier Yak-15 and Yak-17. The first prototype, (Yak-19-I), had callsign "Yellow 24", and a number "5" on the lower rudder. It first flew on the 8 January 1947 with test pilot M I Ivanov at the controls. In flight the aircraft was found to have pleasant and predictable characteristics. Its worst aspect was the afterburner, which slightly lowered the aircraft's dry thrust. Worse yet, it was ignited by a complicated and totally unreliable procedure which would have been useless in combat. This prototype was later modified with a square-tipped rudder.
The second prototype (Yak-19-II), had callsign "Yellow 25", and the number "2" on the lower rudder. It was seen at the 3 August 1947 Tushino flypast. Differing in minor details, the Yak-19-II had a 4 degree dihedral on the horizontal stabiliser and underslung tip tanks, as on the Yak-17.
S N Anokhin was the test pilot during the NII-VVS testing, which was completed on 21 August 1947. He agreed that the aircraft possessed good handling qualities, but felt that the engine was outdated, weak and unreliable.
After failing State acceptance tests (for reasons including high stick forces, no heating or ventilation, and inadequate armour) further development was abandoned. The death knell of the Yak-19 was also sounded by the arrival of the Rolls-Royce Derwent-derived, Klimov RD-500, which gave quantum leaps forward in thrust, reliability, longevity, and ease of maintenance.
No ASCC reporting name was ever allotted, as the aircraft remained unknown to the west until the late 1970s.
Read more about this topic: Yakovlev Yak-19
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