 As the TR-1 engines originally intended for the Su-9 were not yet ready for flight testing in late 1945, Pavel Sukhoi suggested substituting a pair of Jumo 004 engines and this was approved on 15 December. The full-scale mockup was found to be acceptable on 16 February 1946 and the Council of People's Commissars issued an order on 26 February that the manufacturer's flight testing was to begin on 1 November. This goal was not met because the OKB was heavily committed to other projects like the trainer version of the Tupolev Tu-2 bomber, inexperience with JATO units, and late delivery of RD-10 engines. The first prototype was completed in mid-October and made its first flight on 13 November. The test pilots found the aircraft easy to fly, but the control forces were very high at speed and it lacked enough directional stability. Enlarging the vertical stabilizer cured this last problem and hydraulic boosters were fitted for the control system.
