La-5
| La-5 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Role | Fighter aircraft |
| Manufacturer | Lavochkin |
| Designer | Semyon Lavochkin |
| First flight | March 1942 |
| Introduction | July 1942 |
| Primary user | Soviet Air Force |
| Number built | 9,920 |
| Variants | Lavochkin La-7 |
The Lavochkin La-5 (Лавочкин Ла-5) was a Soviet fighter aircraft of World War II. It was a development and refinement of the LaGG-3, replacing the earlier model's inline engine with the much more powerful Shvetsov ASh-82 radial engine. It was one of the Soviet Air Force's most capable types of warplane, able to fight German designs on an equal footing.
The La-5's heritage began even before the outbreak of war, with the LaGG-1, a promising yet underpowered aircraft. The LaGG-3 was a modification of that design that attempted to correct this by both lightening the airframe and fitting a more powerful engine. Nevertheless, this was not enough, and the lack of power remained a significant problem.
In early 1942, two of the LaGG-1 and -3's designers, Semyon Lavochkin and Vladimir Gorbunov, attempted to correct this deficiency by experimentally fitting a LaGG-3 with the more powerful Shvetsov ASh-82 radial engine. Since the LaGG-3 was powered by an inline engine, they accomplished this by grafting on the nose section of a Sukhoi Su-2 (which used this engine). By now, the shortcomings of the LaGG-3 had caused Lavochkin to fall out of Joseph Stalin's favour, and factories previously assigned to LaGG-3 construction had been turned over to building the rival Yakovlev Yak-1 and Yak-7. The design work, which required that the LaGG-3 be adapted to its new engine and still maintain the aircraft's balance, was undertaken by Lavochkin in a small hut beside an airfield over the winter of 1941–1942, all completely unofficially.
When the prototype took flight in March, the result was surprisingly pleasing – the fighter finally had a powerplant that allowed it to perform as well in the air as it had been supposed to on paper. After flying, the LaG-5 (the change in name reflecting that one of the original LaGG designers was no longer with the programme), Air Force test pilots declared it superior to the Yak-7, and intensive flight tests began in April.
...
Wikipedia