The Yak-30 was designed to fly against the Czech L-29 and Polish TS-11 Iskra in a competition to find a purpose built jet trainer for the Soviet and Warsaw pact countries. The TS-11 was first to be eliminated, although it still went into production Polish Air Force. In 1961, despite having better overall performance, the Yak-30 was discarded for political reasons and it was the L-29 which was chosen to go into large scale production. Consequently, only four Yak-30 prototypes were ever built. These were numbered '30', '50', '80' and '90'. '80' is still airworthy and privately owned, but it is unknown which of the other three is on display here. In their brief flying career, they set several world records for their class. The type had the NATO codename 'Magnum'. This aircraft has only recently gone on display at the Russian Air Force Museum. Monino, Russia.