Yakovlev Yak-41M/Yak-141 Soviet supersonic VTOL fighter

Created in the late 1980s, the Yak-41 was a direct development of the Yak-38 concept, but with the possibility of supersonic flight. The project was led by Alexander Yakovlev's son, Sergey Yakovlev. Initially, it was planned to install a single lifting and marching engine on the aircraft, but due to the death of Dmitry Ustinov, who patronized the entire program, work on the new power plant was delayed, and soon completely stalled, and the designers had no choice but to decide on using a scheme with a combination of engines. Despite the depravity of such a solution, which has already become apparent from the experience of the Yak-38, the construction of the aircraft was necessary to work out all systems and assemblies with the subsequent modification of the machine for a new, powerful and economical turbofan engine. Flights of the upgraded version of the Yak-41M began on March 9, 1987, and with the passage of each stage of testing, it became increasingly obvious that the aircraft turned out to be quite successful. Its uniqueness is also evidenced by the fact that the pilot Andrey Sinitsyn set 12 world records for the rate of climb and altitude for VTOL on it. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the progress of work on the machine, which received a new name - the Yak-141, slowed down, and the accident that occurred in 1991 served only as a reason for curtailing the project.