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Yak-60

The success of the Yak-24 helicopter had not gone unnoticed. And in the design office reflect on the creation of the project has a larger helicopter, performed on the same longitudinal scheme. Thus was born the project of heavy military transport helicopter Yak-60, which is on duty could compete with a number of military transport aircraft. This machine is a further development of the largely successful Yak-24.

At the end of 1958, the USSR Council of Ministers issued a decree on the creation of an extra-heavy four-engine helicopter. The task of designing a new machine was immediately received by two design bureaus - Yakovleva and Mila. Both bureaus began to develop helicopters in parallel. But today we will tell you about the development of Yakovlev Design Bureau. The Yak-60 helicopter was created by the Yakovlev design bureau as a further development of the Yak-24 helicopter, which for its bizarre shape was called the "flying carriage". The Yakovlev Design Bureau decided to keep a similar scheme, tested on the Yak-24, but significantly increase the size of the car. For comparison, if the Yak-24 had a carrying capacity of only 4 tons, the future Yak-60 should be able to take away up to 42 tons of cargo at a time.

The further development of the Yak-24 type of helicopter was supposed to be the Yak-60, with a takeoff weight of about 100 tons and a payload of 42 tons, able to transport tanks. But, unfortunately, the Yak-60 remained a project. Given the experience of creation and operation of the helicopter Yak-24, at the Leningrad branch of OKB-115, MAP factory #272 in Leningrad, under the leadership of Igor A. Ehrlich, according to the February 1958 Council of Ministers decree, elaborated upon the draft of the new heavy helicopters with the longitudinal scheme - the Yak-60.

Rotors were borrowed from the Mi-6, each of which rotates with two engines D-25VF. The helicopter planned to use four gas turbine engines D-25VF, capacity 6497 horsepower. The total capacity was about 25,000 horsepower.. Planned load should be more than 40 tons. Dimensions of the Yakovlev giants were the following: the length of 44.6 meters, width of 8.6 meters and a height of 11.6 meters. Carrying capacity of the Yak-60 was 42 tonnes and a maximum takeoff weight - 100 tons.

Work on the design of the Yak-60 was engaged in the Leningrad branch of OKB-115 factory #272 MAP directly under the chief designer Igor Alexandrovich Ehrlich. The draft of the new heavy helicopter began to develop on the basis of the USSR Council of Ministers Resolution of February 1958. These dimensions and load capacity of 40 tons before the helicopter opened great opportunities. The purpose of the helicopter giant, which is superior to "Flying car" Yak-24, had airlift: tanks, self-propelled guns, armored personnel carriers, ballistic missiles, ground-based radar, bridge girders, pontoon units, derricks, masts power, river ships, ammunition and other weapons, as well as a variety of oversized cargo for household purposes.

The purpose of the giant helicopter was transport by air of tanks, armored personnel carriers, self-propelled units, ground radar, ballistic missiles, pontoon units, bridge girders, ammunition and other weapons, masts power, oil rigs, river boats and other large-scale national economic goods. In addition to the spacious cargo compartment, cargo can be transported on external sling. At the same time it could carry up to 228 troops in full gear and 176 wounded and 8 medical workers. By helicopter work did not come on the technical proposal, due to the failure of OKB-115 from the helicopter theme and closing its Leningrad branch of a subsequent reorientation of the plant number 272.

The development of the Yak-60 was curtailed, and preference was given to the B-12 project from the Mil design office. Milevts designed and built a similar V-12 helicopter with the same four D-25VF engines that were planned to be installed on the Yak-60. It was the largest helicopter in the world. So he remains to this day. In total, two B-12s were built. The first prototype V-12 helicopter lifted a cargo weighing more than 44 tons to a height of more than two kilometers. This helicopter capacity record is still not broken. But as it turned out, such large helicopters proved to be ineffective and required expensive and thorough maintenance. In the future, the authorities of the USSR did not return to the topic of creating such giant helicopters.