The Yakovlev Yak-25 was a turbojet-powered interceptor, the development of which was initiated on direct order from Joseph Stalin in 1951. Once testing proved that its prototypes were exceeding all the PVO’s operational requirements – except those for speed – and that it was superior to the competing Lavochkin La-200B, it entered series production in 1954 and operational service as the Yak-25M a year later, equipped with the RP-6 Sokol radar and two Nudelman NL-37 37mm automatic cannons with 50 rounds each. The type proved highly popular in service, and became involved in dozens of intercept attempts against Western aircraft, but its low maximum speed (1,090km/h or 677mph) and massive problems with the heightfinding equipment of early Soviet ground-based radars made it ineffective at altitudes above 10,668m (35,000ft). This Yak-25M served with the 524th Interceptor Aviation Regiment at the Letnoerzerskiy AB (Arkhangelsk region) in the early 1960s. (Artwork by To Cooper)