[2] To minimize risk, the new aircraft used the same "pod-and-boom" layout as the earlier Yak-17 fighter, but the metal fuselage was redesigned as a semi-monocoque structure with the single-seat, unpressurized cockpit and its teardrop-shaped canopy positioned just above the trailing edge of the wing.

[3] Two prototypes and a static-test airframe were ordered and the aircraft first flew on 8 July 1947 with the Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Ivanov, at the controls.

The Yakovlev OKB concluded its testing on 24 September and turned over the second prototype for state acceptance trials on 22 October.

Although the Yak-23 was accepted for series production, it was criticized of heavy aileron and rudder forces, lack of cockpit pressurization and heating and ventilation, protection for the pilot and weak armament.

[5] A Romanian Yak-23 flown by Major Dumitru Balaur successfully intercepted a Soviet Ilyushin Il-28 on the night of 28 October 1952.

Being tracked from the ground on radar, the Il-28 was intercepted by the Yak-23 fighter scrambled from the Ianca airfield after it had passed into the Romanian airspace a second time.

As the bomber refused to follow the Romanian pilot's instructions, the fighter moved into position to shoot it down but was recalled to base.

The aircraft arrived disassembled and was shipped to the U.S. Air Force Test and Evaluation Center at Wright Field near Dayton, Ohio.

At the completion of design and flight evaluations the aircraft was again disassembled and shipped quietly back to Yugoslavia in its original paint scheme.

Albania Bulgaria Czechoslovakia North Korea Poland Romania Soviet Union Data from The Complete Book of Fighters[9]General characteristics Performance Armament