You know a plane turns terribly when you can take it on in a basic F-104 in a turning engagement...and WIN.

I didn’t research this in the past and am currently half way through the yak-30. I forgot how much fun using the LA15 was. Thank you for making this amazing content! I’ve learned a lot from your videos!

I bought the premium yak-38 when it came out and the VTOL hype was huge. I have to say it’s been one of the most enjoyable planes I’ve used. I just use its insane thrust to climb to uncontested altitudes the dive down behind approaching fighters, let off as many r60s as i can lock then get out. Don’t know if i agree with the fact that its not the best in air combat, it can easily put a big dent in the opposition and definitely wins games.

Patience paid off!! I was waiting for this one, even asked about it a few months back and I’m still happy to see it now:)

I hope I'm not the only one who caught you running R-60s on the inner pylons at 3:15. As far as I know, that's the typical arrangement for the Yak-38, with the actual payload on the outer pylons. Nice detail if it was intentional.

Nice. I agree with you, this plane looks GREAT but its performance in reality, not so much. The Harrier will always be one of my first loves in aviation, but once I learned about the existence of the 38 when I was a kid, I was fascinated. I played MicroProse F-117A an awful lot as a kid, and the 38 showed up a lot, which I thought was odd but OK whatever. (especially the Vietnam campaign in the game) One of my favorite models as a kid was the Revell kit, it felt like you had access to "secret" intel on the plane, as the kit was designed mostly from photographs. Although even as a kid, without much knowledge in aerodynamics and physics, I thought it was a bit odd to have the 2 small lift engines, dead weight, etc. For years I thought the 38 was a uniquely Yak/Soviet design, and then I found out about the VAK-191 and OK now I see where they got the idea from, and short-lived Yak-141 And of course years later / now we have the F-35. Hmmmmm.

you did the VTOL part wrong: take off to about 40m, smack the engines back to normal instantly, crash

Thanks for uploading the review, I'm very close to getting it and also after the Yak-141 announcement now there is a reason to grind it.

Awesome review!!!! Love your content, was great coming across you in the yak 38 the other day

Tip for VTOL aircraft is if your tail comes off you can go into VTOL mode to keep flying, tho you have to keep balanced

Beautiful! Happy to see this video thank you!

Quick recommendation, for the pros and cons in 13:29 you could try using green (pros) and red (cons) to look a bit more visually appealing, nice video btw i hope to get the Yak-38 someday

This thing is a penguin. It barely flies, barely turns, barely fights, just looking cute.

I am so excited to see the Yak-141, even though I don't play the game anymore.

Great video! Cant wait for the Yak 141 review!

Looking forward to getting this on the road to the Yak-41

Very nice timing :D

Great review.

G'day Tim, While it's a struggle bus the hover sausage is a joy to fly but yesss the Yakovlev Yak-38 can be a pain but now with the 4× R-60's it can be quite mean at BR or below. On the plus side the test range is a Pr.1143 Heavy Aviation Cruiser Baku which still to this day since 2.01 I wish it was a TT ship.

honestly the way gaijin is destroying air RB balance by constantly feeding in premiums with super strong missiles speaks volumes of the fact that they either don't play their own game or don't care if anyone has fun so long as they make loads of money.

Just in time for the Yak 41 in the dev server this weekend

This thing was actually pretty fun when it was originally added all those years ago but now that more planes at that tier have either flares better missiles are faster or all of the above are swarming that BR it’s really not enjoyable anymore

i always loved how Kiev Aircraft Carriers was made as an Aviation Cruiser instead of true Aircraft Carriers, so unlike most western Aircraft Carriers which relies on their aircrafts as offensive armament while having other ships to protect the Carriers, the Soviet Cruiser could handle all of that by itself, and the planes are there as Patrol, Interceptor, & Anti Submarine Warfare to protect the Carrier itself. the reason i played this plane is because of that, it wasn't great, but it's interesting to play, surely makes me play in different playstyle. also Yak-38 looks amazing, though the trainer version is a bit goofy lol. also Hyped for the Yak-41M!

The Yak-38 has its flaws but you can still use it effectively if you fly correctly. Used this jet for my grind through tier 6 and into 7. One of my favorite planes I flown so far.

Would you say that’s there’s much of a place for planes without flares around that BR bracket? I’m pretty new to air, and I’ve been trying to grind with the premium T-2, but I find once I get bored of getting two kills from BnZing the onslaught of US attack jets I can’t last more than 30 seconds at low altitude without getting 9L’d. Any suggestions to remedy the painful grind?

For yak players below 400kmph you can use vtol to dogfight (with minimum fuel) but only in specific situations, but your heat signature is brighter than the sun at that point so use vtol wisely.

Finally!!!!!!!!!!

All this is telling me is AIM-9Ls should not be at 10.0 (or R-60M at 9.7 either), because plenty of the jets I'm grinding through atm don't have flares in that BR bracket.

I only recently returned to the game and I missed the Yak-38 I really hope it comes back for purchase or is it possible to buy through support

wow i think it's first video where you don't start talking from first second and that's why I thought my audio or audio in video was broken

How do you get the blue camo for the 38M?

That radar warning receiver was really distracting

I am still not sure why they didn’t include the lift turbines in a passive turbine that generates lift all the time. Increasing the angele of attack a little and fitting intakes like race cars do when the cooler is in the back. At least you wouldn’t have 2 turbines constantly offline and just as 2 metal blocks sitting around

Yak-41 be fun

Im grinding this in my Su 25K

I found a neat trick to deal with missiles without flares. If you got missiles but no flares... turn on the missile lock button & if someone is about to fire on you headon lets say an Aim-9L like in this Yak-38's case from the A6E's... if he fires the 9L then, its a weird system in WT, missiles can lock on to other missiles easily even if they are rear aspect, they lock on to enemy missiles from the front easily. Just fire your missile quickly when it locks the 9L & roll out the way. You got 4 makeshift flares at your disposal LMFAO! I have survived like this consistently.

Yeaahhh, thats why i love the Harrier, it is such a quirky Jet that, while being subsonic, can pull flaps a 400mph AND VTOL at anytime you want and my god i can out turn Mig 21's in any Harrier in the game, and oh my, the british harriers SRAAMs, what a missile

The claim that you can't use the lift engines to boost turning performance isn't completely true. You can use them at low air speeds below ~500kph. With manual engine control the main engines can maintain forward thrust while the lift engines can provide vertical thrust. This improves turning ability by a great deal and can catch people by surprise.

Tim do the dev streams always reveal all the new vehicles cause I have been waiting to long for a Israeli top tier SPAA and we receive nothing yet again

You can VTOL just below a certain speed..

This isn't actually that bad in Sim. You can look like a 104 or Harrier at distance and the R60s perform much better due to the situational awareness required in Sim battles.

was this video uploaded because of the new addition of the Yak-141?

Did you time the review with the Yak-41 announcement, or was it just a happy coincidence?

It’s now at Br 9.3

How do you grind this thing stock? I’m climbing above the enemy with a 1 R-60 1 gunpod loadout.

Is the camo paint scheme only for the premium version? My yak-38m doesn’t seem to have it…. Which is sad

This thing feels like a Russian side grade to the Harrier GR. 1.

OH I SAW YOU IN THE DEV SERVER I WAS DOVE1234

I use rockets as flares on the J35 and i works well for R60´s

it gets above 1200kmh fly at 10 meters over the water and youre fast

The Yak-38 is just a T2/F1 with a brick taped to it

shame that the yak38m is at a higher BR than the premium :(

Another forgotten (outdated), once champion, from the past... Just like most of the new top premiums. 9.7 game is still 90% 10.7 do to that single event Tornado, and do to some of the new premiums. So I just no longer take off in any uptier, and quit. Yes, i only get 1 game in every 3 hours, on rank 6 air RB!

If the Soviets had brains they would have used Yak38 technology to build a VTOL business jet and sold it to the world.

Gajin really needs to sort the American planes out at this br

Comment for the alhorythm

flying russian dolphin

Ngl, the worst purchase I have made

Useless aircraft IRL, as proven by their performance in Afghanistan, where they could barely carry 2x 100kg free-fall bombs. One of the few aircraft on which soviet pilots straight up refused to fly, because of high accident rate.

WORST plane i ever play

It handles like a bus but I love it