History:
16nov2006. - now ..................,N550YK;
jul1999....... - 16nov2006.......... LY-CPT;
1981..... ..... - jul1999 ............... 64 DOSAAF;
John Sykes, the owner wrote:
The following is a brief history of Yak 50 81-2107 gleaned from the a/c log books as well input from prior owners.
The aircraft was designed by the Yakovlev Design Bureau of Moscow Russia in the Communist Soviet Union and built in the Skorost Factory. It was first test flown on July 12, 1981. The aircraft serial number reflects the year of manufacture (1981 =81) the batch number (21 – aircraft were built in batches of ten) and the sequential number of the batch (7). Thus this aircraft was the 217th Yak 50 produced of 312 in total.
Following its acceptance test flights by the factory it was not flown again for five years when it was posted to the DOSSAF (Air Cadet’s) base at Kiev, Ukraine. From August 1986 to September 1989 it flew a total of 58.1 hours. After the collapse of the Soviet Union (SU) 81-2107 was dismantled and placed in storage. During this period Vytas Maciulis, a former member of the SU National Glider Team, had established ‘Termikas’ in Kaunas, Lithuania to overhaul sailplanes. Seeing an opportunity Vytas used his contacts in Russia to locate interesting aircraft. One of these was 81-2107. It was acquired and moved by truck to Kanuas. In 1999 it was purchased from Termikas by Wolfgang Hienstorfer of Tannheim, Germany. Termikas completely overhauled the airframe and installed a new (1990 year of manufacture) M-14P engine and new V530 Propeller. 81-2107 carried Lithuanian Registry LY-CPT. It was delivered via Poland to Tannheim by Launas Jonys a former SU aerobatic champion. In 2006 Wolfgang sold the aircraft back to Termikas who once again completely overhauled the airframe and repainted it to the new owners specifications in Soviet World War Two winter camouflage. The airframe had 139.4 hours Total Time Since New. The aircraft was purchased by John Sykes of Friendswood, Texas USA. It was dismantled, packed in a shipping container and exported to the United States.

Photo 1: N550YK

Photo 1: LY-CPT