Yakovlev Yak - 16 The Yakovlev Yak - 16 ( NATO reporting name Cork ) was a Soviet light transport that first flew in 1947 . Prototypes were built in both passenger and military cargo versions , but neither was put into production as the Antonov An - 2 was felt to be more versatile . Development . After the end of World War II the GVF ( " Grazdahnskovo Vozdushnogo Flota " – Civil Air Fleet ) issued a requirement for a passenger aircraft to service low - volume destinations too small to justify a Lisunov Li - 2 . It wanted an aircraft capable of carrying ten passengers over a distance of at a cruising speed of that would be powered by a pair of Shvetsov ASh - 21 radial engines . The Yakovlev OKB was tasked to fulfill this requirement in February 1946 with the first prototype ready for State acceptance trials on 1 November 1946 . This proved to be too optimistic considering the amount of work the OKB was already doing and this was delayed to August 1947 . The specification was revised at the same time to specify a speed no less than at sea level and that the military version was to mount a dorsal turret with a single gun . The Yak - 16 was a low - winged , twin - engined monoplane that closely resembled the Li - 2 . The metal - skinned , semi - monocoque fuselage had room for a two - person cockpit and ten passengers plus a toilet and baggage hold . The control surfaces of the tail were fabric - covered although the tail itself was metal - skinned . The two - spar metal wing was built in three sections , a rectangular center section and two trapezoidal outer panels . The main undercarriage legs retracted forward into the engine nacelles , with the wheels remaining semi - exposed , while the tailwheel was fixed . The ASh - 21 engines had NACA cowling s and drove 2 - bladed variable - pitch VISh - 11V - 20 propellers . The first prototype , often referred to as the Yak - 16 - I , made its first flight on 24 September 1947 and proved to have excellent handling characteristics with one engine out and could also climb with one engine inoperable . It passed its State acceptance trials in early 1948 at the NII GVF ( " Nauchno - Issledovatel ' skiy Institut Grazhdanskogo Vozdushnogo Flota " — Scientific Test Institute for Civil Air Fleet ) . The military transport version , often called the Yak - 16 - II , differed from the passenger version as it carried a UTK - 1 ball turret that mounted a Berezin UB T machine gun immediately behind the flight deck , the cargo cabin floor was reinforced , the vertical tail was slightly larger and the fuselage was slightly longer . It used three - bladed V - 511 feathering propellers with scimitar - shaped blades . It could carry seven paratroopers , ten fully equipped troops or six stretcher cases and a medical attendant . It was fitted with a large clamshell door on the left side of the fuselage to facilitate cargo loading . This door had a smaller , inward - opening door set into its forward half . Three TsDMMM - 120 supply containers could be fitted on racks underneath the wing center section and it was fitted with a glider tow hook . The Yak - 16 - II passed its manufacturer ' s trials in April 1948 and was submitted for the State acceptance trials shortly afterwards . These revealed several deficiencies that caused the horizontal tail area to be increased and deicing equipment to be fitted on the leading edges of the wings and tail . It was resubmitted for another round of State acceptance trials which approved it for production . It was not selected for production as the Antonov An - 2 was thought to be more versatile in both roles . Some effort was made to drum up export sales in Eastern Europe , but no interest was shown because it was not in service with Aeroflot . The prototypes were used for a time by the Yakovlev OKB and Factory No . 464 that built them .