Plane :

Can we get this to the Main page?, let's do it

The Yakovlev Yak-25 (NATO designation Flashlight-A/Mandrake) is a swept wing, turbojet-powered interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft built by Yakovlev and used by the Soviet Union.

operational history:

The Yak-25 was first displayed at Tushino Airfield in July 1955, and received the NATO reporting name Flashlight, which was subsequently changed to Flashlight-A when the Yak-26 and Yak-27 were reported.[13] They started to equip air defence units from 1955. They were considered easy to fly and popular among the crews. Engine breakdowns were quite common, mostly due to the low engine position when on the ground, which demanded clean airfields, but thanks to twin-engine arrangement, few such failures were fatal.

Due to its twin engines and radar intercept operator, pilots gained more confidence on long missions in the remote northern and eastern areas of the Soviet Union.[14]

In 1955, 108 pilots and 95 ground crewmen finished conversion training on the Yak-25M at the Savasleyka PVO Training and Methodical Center.[15] As it was intended for low-altitude flying, the Yak-25's service ceiling was too low to intercept the American RB-47 Stratojet, which often flew reconnaissance missions over Soviet territory.[16]

Their withdrawal started in 1963. The last Yak-25 interceptors were retired by 1967; the 'Mandrake' reconnaissance version soldiered on in various roles through the late 1970s. Like many other PVO interceptors of the Cold War era, the Yak-25M was not exported to the Warsaw Pact or other nations.