Members of the public get a close view of Yak-28PP “Blue 60” of the 118th OAPREB during an “open house” at Chortkov Air Base in 1990, by which time the Brewer-Es had been painted in a three-tone camouflage. The Yak-28PP was fitted with five receiver antennae located around the extensively glazed large-diameter conical nose.

Самолёты на фотографии: Aircrafts on the photo: Яковлев Як-28 - РоссияRussia - 1958

Yak-28PP “Blue 50” was one of a number Yak-28s of various sub-types to be sent to Pushkin, near St Petersburg, for overhaul in the very early 1990s; they were ultimately withdrawn from service while there, however, and remained on the west side of the airfield until 2002, when most were unceremoniously scrapped.

Самолёты на фотографии: Aircrafts on the photo: Яковлев Як-28 - РоссияRussia - 1958

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the 118th OAPREB was absorbed into the Ukrainian Air Force (ZSU). The last surviving Yak-28PP in Ukraine is “Yellow 59”, which is on display at the Ukrainian Air Force Museum at Vinnytsia in west-central Ukraine.

Самолёты на фотографии: Aircrafts on the photo: Яковлев Як-28 - РоссияRussia - 1958

Yak-28PP "White 53” of the 118th OAPREB, a specialised electronic warfare unit of the V-VS, was captured above the clouds by Ukrainian aviation journalist and photographer the late Sergei Skrynnikov in 1991.

Самолёты на фотографии: Aircrafts on the photo: Яковлев Як-28 - РоссияRussia - 1958

Although of indefferent quality, this photograph by Sergei Skrynnikov shows the Yak-28PP's extensively reworked bomb bay area, which was redesigned to house a retractable module containing the aircraft's various ECM suites. The three ventral air intakes required to regulate the module's temperature are visible midway along the fuselage.

Самолёты на фотографии: Aircrafts on the photo: Яковлев Як-28 - РоссияRussia - 1958

"Yellow 59" at Vinnytsia retains its UB-16-57M rocket-projectile pods, which would be used to fire S-5P rocket projectiles loaded with chaff ahead of the aircraft as a countermeasure against radar-guided SAMs.

Самолёты на фотографии: Aircrafts on the photo: Яковлев Як-28 - РоссияRussia - 1958

Following their handover from the V-VS in the early 1990s, the ZSU’s Yak-28PPs had the Ukrainian tryzub (trident), representing the nation’s coat of arms, applied to their fins, although the camouflage was essentially a hangover from V-VS service.

Самолёты на фотографии: Aircrafts on the photo: Яковлев Як-28 - РоссияRussia - 1958

A pair of Yak-28PPs participate in an exercise circa 1991-92. The ZSU inherited 22 of the remaining 39 Brewer-Es still in service when the Soviet Union collapsed. The first prototype of the Yak-28PP’s intended successor, the Sukhoi Su-24MP Fencer-F, made its first flight in 1980, although ultimately fewer than 15 were built.

Самолёты на фотографии: Aircrafts on the photo: Яковлев Як-28 - РоссияRussia - 1958

Yak-28Ps and Ls on the production line in 1967 at Irkutsk, Siberia, where Yak-28PPs were later produced.

Самолёты на фотографии: Aircrafts on the photo: Яковлев Як-28 - РоссияRussia - 1958

Showing the type’s distinctive velosipedno (bicycle) undercarriage arrangement with wingtip stabilisers, a 118th OAPREB Yak-28PP prepares to land at Chortkov in Ukraine in the mid-1980s, when most of the V-VS’s fleet of Brewer-Es was still bare-metal. Note the chaff-dispensing rocket-projectile pods on the outer wing sections.

Самолёты на фотографии: Aircrafts on the photo: Яковлев Як-28 - РоссияRussia - 1958

The Yak-28PP was essentially equivalent to the USAF’s development of the Douglas B-66 Destroyer into the EB-66 electronic-warfare specialist platform, which proved invaluable in Vietnam. This EB-66 of the 41st Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron awaits minor repairs at Takhli, Thailand, in May 1968.

Самолёты на фотографии: Aircrafts on the photo: Douglas B-66 Destroyer - СШАUSA - 1954

The Yak-28 was a development of the Yak-27, initially designed as an interceptor, but also modified to become the Yak-27R tactical-reconniassance aircraft, an example of which is seen here. The Yak-27’s mid-mounted wing was enlarged and moved up to the shoulder position on the Yak-28, which first flew in March 1958.

Самолёты на фотографии: Aircrafts on the photo: Яковлев Як-27Р - РоссияRussia - 1958