Yakovlev Yak-38 NATO Code: Forger

The Yakovlev Yak-38 (NATO reporting name: Forger) was USSR’s first and only operational VTOL multi-role combat aircraft. The Yak-38s limited useful payload was always its Achilles heel, but the high ambient temperatures that had been encountered in the Black Sea during the summer 1976 trials frequently prevented the aircraft from carrying any external stores at all, despite a reduced fuel load. Similar problems were then encountered when Minsk sailed off the coast of West Africa and then in the Indian Ocean; in these instances the lift jets proved unwilling to start under hot and humid conditions.