Aboard the deck of carrier cruiser Minsk, the atmosphere was anything but quiet. It was December 1982, and two Yak-38 Forger jets, the Soviet Union’s first—and only—vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, were finally prepping for a mission six years into their operational service. Ahead of them loomed the ship’s distinctive ski-jump ramp, designed to give […]Yakovlev Yak-38 – the Soviet Fighter Everyone Feared (Until they saw It In Action)
Aboard the deck of carrier cruiser Minsk, the atmosphere was anything but quiet. It was December 1982, and two Yak-38 Forger jets, the Soviet Union’s first—and only—vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, were finally prepping for a mission six years into their operational service. Ahead of them loomed the ship’s distinctive ski-jump ramp, designed to give […]