In article <o9c3cp0rlm@drn.newsguy.com>,
Miloch <Miloch_member@newsguy.com> wrote:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavochkin_La-7
>
> The Lavochkin La-7 was a piston-engined Soviet fighter developed during
> World
> War II by the Lavochkin Design Bureau (OKB). It was a development and
> refinement
> of the Lavochkin La-5, and the last in a family of aircraft that had begun
> with
> the LaGG-1 in 1938. Its first flight was in early 1944 and it entered service
> with the Soviet Air Forces later in the year. A small batch of La-7s was
> given
> to the Czechoslovak Air Force the following year, but it was otherwise not
> exported. Armed with two or three 20 mm (0.79 in) cannon, it had a top speed
> of
> 661 kilometers per hour (411 mph). The La-7 was felt by its pilots to be at
> least the equal of any German piston-engined fighter and even shot down a
> Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter. It was phased out in 1947 by the Soviet Air
> Force, but served until 1950 with the Czechoslovak Air Force.
>
> By 1943, the La-5 had become a mainstay of the Soviet Air Forces, yet both
> its
> head designer, Semyon Lavochkin, as well as the engineers at the Central
> Aerohydrodynamics Institute (Russian: TsAGI), felt that it could be improved
> upon. TsAGI refined earlier studies of aerodynamic improvements to the La-5
> airframe in mid-1943 and modified La-5FN c/n 39210206 to evaluate the
> changes.
> These included complete sealing of the engine cowling, rearrangement of the
> wing
> center section to accommodate the oil cooler and the relocation of the engine
> air intake from the top of the cowling to the bottom to improve the pilot's
> view.
>
> Combat trials began in mid-September 1944 and were generally very positive.
> However four aircraft were lost to engine failures and the engines suffered
> from
> numerous lesser problems, despite its satisfactory service in the La-5FN. One
> cause was the lower position of the engine air intakes in the wing roots of
> the
> La-7 which caused the engine to ingest sand and dust. One batch of flawed
> wings
> was built and caused six accidents, four of them fatal, in October which
> caused
> the fighter to be grounded until the cause was determined to be a defect in
> the
> wing spar.
>
> Production of the first aircraft fitted with three B-20 cannon began in
> January
> 1945 when 74 were delivered. These aircraft were 65 kilograms (143 lb)
> heavier
> than those aircraft with the two ShVAK guns, but the level speed was slightly
> improved over the original aircraft. However, the time to climb to 5000
> meters
> increased by two-tenths of a second over the older model. More than 2000
> aircraft were delivered before the war's end, most by Zavod Nr. 21. A total
> of
> 5753 aircraft had been built by Zavod Nr. 21, Nr. 381, and Nr. 99 in
> Ulan-Ude,
> when production ended in early 1946.
>
>
> Role
> Fighter
>
> Manufacturer
> Lavochkin OKB
>
> First flight
> February 1944
>
> Introduction
> 1944
>
> Retired
> 1950
>
> Primary users
> Soviet Air Forces
> Czechoslovak Air Force
>
> Number built
> 5,753
>
> Developed from
> Lavochkin La-5
>
> The British test pilot, Eric "Winkle" Brown was given the chance to fly an
> La-7
> at the Tarnewitz test site on the Baltic coast, shortly after the German
> surrender in May 1945. He described the handling and performance as "quite
> superb", but the armament and sights were "below par", the "wooden
> construction
> would have withstood little combat punishment" and the instrumentation was
> "appallingly basic".
>
> Production of the La-7 amounted to 5,753 aircraft, plus 584 La-7UTI trainers.
> Those aircraft still in service after the end of the war were given the NATO
> reporting name Fin. The follow-up model, the La-9, despite its outward
> similarity, was a completely new design.
>
> The La-7 ended the superiority in vertical maneuverability that the
> Messerschmitt Bf 109G had previously enjoyed over other Soviet fighters.
> Furthermore, it was fast enough at low altitudes to catch, albeit with some
> difficulties, Focke Wulf Fw 190 fighter-bombers that attacked Soviet units on
> the frontlines and immediately returned to German-controlled airspace at full
> speed. The Yakovlev Yak-3 and the Yakovlev Yak-9U with the Klimov VK-107
> engine
> lacked a large enough margin of speed to overtake the German raiders. 115
> La-7s
> were lost in air combat, only half the number of Yak-3s.
>
> Specifications (1945 production model)
>
> General characteristics
> Crew: 1
> Length: 8.6 m (28 ft 3 in)
> Wingspan: 9.8 m (32 ft 2 in)
> Height: 2.54 m (8 ft 4 in)
> Wing area: 17.59 m2 (189.3 sq ft)
> Gross weight: 3,315 kg (7,308 lb)
> 1,230
> kW (1,650 hp)
> Propellers: 3-bladed VISh-105V-4
>
> Performance
> Maximum speed: 661 km/h (411 mph; 357 kn) @ 6,000 meters (19,685 ft)
> Range: 665 km (413 mi; 359 nmi) (1944 model)
> Service ceiling: 10,450 m (34,285 ft)
> Rate of climb: 15.72 m/s (3,095 ft/min)
> Time to altitude: 5.3 minutes to 5,000 meters (16,404 ft)
>
> Armament
>
> cowl-mounted 20 mm Berezin B-20 cannons with 100 rounds per gun
> Bombs: 200 kg (440 lb) of bombs
>
>
>
>
>
> *
A Russian pilot joke about LaGG was that it means Lakirovanny
Guarantirovanny Grob Guaranteed Varnished Coffin
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