Newb question on the La5

[Arty]

Hello everybody,
I have recently taken a shine to flying the Yak where my score has improved to the point where I die only slightly more in it than I kill. Then I got to wondering. What does the La5 do well? Is it fast? Turn well? How should I fly and fight with it? Just wondering.
Thanks for your time Arty

[Dingy]

Stay outa the La5.  As many have stated its a terrible plane.

Pros:
- Relatively fast
- Good climb and zoom
- Great acceleration

Cons:
- Miserable guns
- Poor high alt performance (above 15K)
- Not a great sustained turner

I've found my gun aim in the La5 improves if I move the convergence out to 650.  It doesnt have that big an effect on the spread of rounds up close since both guns are nose mounted.  Also, if you fly the La5 like you would a 51, you will do great.   I think the La5 is like a Mustang on steroids.  Its just that the ShVak cannon are such sh*t that I usually dont manage more than 2-3 kills a mission.  

-Ding

[Hans]

OH!  The La5-FN!  My favorite ride.

It accelerates!  How can you tell?  You hear the gear creaking from overstress on EVERY takeoff.  Other aircraft can go nearly the full length of the runway and take off with no problem.  The Lavochkin can't make it halfway down the runway without starting to bend the landing gear from too much speed.    Hell, its a tiny aircraft thats litterally all engine.

It handles high speed well with no compression.

It turns well.  You can hold a partial blackout every time.  We can argue about maneverabilty, but G-forces are the same for all aircraft.  Anytime we are blacking out, we are both turning the same.

It rolls well, even at high speed.

It is very, very stable.  Some aircraft in Aces High fly "mushy" to me.  The German planes for instance.  Not the La5.  It is stable as a rock.

It only has one fuel tank.  Not that this is a big deal, but it is nice to have total fuel onboard displayed as a single ammount, instead of having to Shift-F to read each tank individually.  Take 100% fuel though, since it has no drop tanks, and the one fuel tank you have isn't very large.

Its small.  Your somewhat harder to hit than most.

The bad news.

Every plane has it's warts.

The La5 has somewhat poor visibility over the nose.  You can't jack your seat up to see over the nose like you can in bubble canopy fighters like the Typhoon or P-51.

It only has two cannons.  They're 20mm, but you only have two.

All in all, the La5's biggest selling point is the high accelleration.

Hans.

[Ghosth]

Love the La5, & have flown it almost exclusively for 2 tours now.

Yak seems to pull away from it eventually on the deck.

If diveing into a turnfight with lots of E I can ussually manage 2 to 3 circles before I start loseing ground. Soon as you stop gaining position on the con it's time to extend out.

Keep it fast!

Excellent dive handleing, esp if you use the autoangle to keep it trimmed.

Cannons to my mind are no worse than anything else out there except the HS. Turbo lazers they arn't, but I have no problem getting 3 to 5 kill sorties (on a good day anyway)

Get close, short bursts on target & down they go.

Planes to watch in the LA5 (IMO)
Niki, (wicked E retention, watch their initial zoom) and fast reverses, not to mention they turn better. However,if you can spiral climb them till they stall they are easy meat.

Yak, if co alt/E tend to be very long brutal fights.

C-hawgs, esp if they have altitude.
Watch their zoom, watch for their reverse. I find a combination of horz & vert seperation keeps me out of their guns the best.
If you can get saddled up, plan a slightly lag pursuit, and be patient. Sit back there on their 6, hoard your E. It may take a while but eventually they'll run out of steam and either run (yes you CAN catch them) or they'll get low & slow & try to turn. Move in & teach them fear at this point!  


Anytime you'd like to wing up with RW arty just yell. 2 La5's is 4 times the fun!

[StSanta]

Good plane, the LA-5. The VVS seemed to focus on this kind of e fighter.

Aye, the LW planes have a tendency to be less than stable, especially in pitch.

I'd fly yhe LA-5 in a similar way as I'd fly the YAK, with some modificatons. And I'd stay fast vs t&b'ers.



------------------
Baron Claus "StSanta" Von Ribbentroppen
9./JG 54 "Grünherz"

"I don't necessarily agree with everything I think." - A. Eldritch

[Widewing]

 

Originally posted by Hans:
OH!  The La5-FN!  My favorite ride.

It accelerates!  How can you tell?  You hear the gear creaking from overstress on EVERY takeoff.  Other aircraft can go nearly the full length of the runway and take off with no problem.  The Lavochkin can't make it halfway down the runway without starting to bend the landing gear from too much speed

I,m assuming that you have increased your climb angle to avoid this, correct? Once the gear are in the wells, you can re-establish the ideal climb speed/angle.

Being new to AH, and still feeling out the different aircraft, I found that above is effective with the Lavochkin.

My only complaint about this sim (so far), is that these aircraft retain energy entirely too well. It's a genuine pain in the neck if you need to kill airspeed in a hurry.

My regards,

Widewing

[Torgo]

I can't hit a damn thing in either Russian AC because of horrendous nose bounce...worse than anything else I've tried in AH.

Probably more an issue with my joystick and settings (Which I constantly still play with) but even though I really want to fly these things the nose bounce is so much worse (for me) than stuff like the 51 and Spit I simply can't stand flying them.

[Sorrow[S=A]]

Hah! I beat Leonid to this one  

Ok, I flew the Lachovin since Beta and joined the 5GIAP to get even better..  even so I can barely keep up with Leo but I will share what I can.

High points:
The lachovin is a superb all around fighter, especially at low altitudes. It embodies all of the critical fundamentals of Soviet airplane design. These are High acceleration, good E-retention, no lockups of control at high speed, High degree of control at extreme angle of attack and high amount of damage resistance.

This means quite simply that this plane under its WEP below 8,000 ft will accelerate very very well. Below its critical altitude of 8k it also in the top percentage of speed as well for it's time period (La-7 is the '44 contemporary and is one of the fastest deck speeds of WWII). Above 8k your engine will no longer create as much boost but the plane still performs well.

The La-5FN suffers from no compressability lockups at high speeds although controls do lose authority over 500mph. Under this she can roll and turn very well. Her critical speed is 300 mph. Under this she can no longer pull 6G in a turn. However she has extremely good E-retention if excessive G is not pulled.

The La-5FN (and Yak as well) has a high amount of control at extreme AOA. This plane can literally sit on it's tail and remain in control right up to it's stall.

Finally the La has a very good resistance to damage. Specifically MG fire. Her all wood construction and unique fuel sealing  methods mean it takes a great deal of fire to damage her. Fires rarely occur unless catastrophic damage is inflicted. Her radial is very tough and she has an armored glass cockpit.


Flying her succesfully usually means using her acceleration and high control in E fighting to obtain gun solutions in the vertical. Whenever possible trade altitude for speed to bring a fight into your superior performance range. Decline most shots that require pulling lead as this will result in having to fire at a target signifigantly under your nose. In bad situations rolling scissors and popping a notch of flaps can reverse a fight. Always try to get an overshoot- the La-5 was flown this way by soviet pilots as the La-5's high speed on deck and acceleration coupled with it's ability to follow a faster opponent into the vertical make almost any overshoot fatal for the enemy.

As a final note: the La series of planes all have excellent rudder control. If you find gunnery difficult pursue a method of just getting as close as possible and slewing your plane over the target while firing. Most kills I obtained were under 100 yds and the cannon is quite effective at this range. Aslo usefull in head on vertical manuevers. Keep your wings perpindicular to the enemy (90 degrees, so that he is in line with your wings) while keeping your nose several degrees of his gun solution. When the distance closes slew your nose over him while firing.

Sorrow

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If your in range, so is the enemy.

 

[This message has been edited by Sorrow[S=A] (edited 01-30-2001).]

[Laika]

What Sorrow said  

The La5 is all I fly.. The things I think make it a great ride are:
 
Good acceleration, good rudder control, superb low altitude performance, good control at/near the stall

The only down side “might” be its low fuel capacity, although once you have flown it for awhile it seems less of a problem. Cant remember the last time I ran it dry, although the fuel gauge is often on or near “E” when I put it down on the strip  

Guns are fine unless you come from the "spray & pray" school of training   .. Get in close and multi kill sorties should not be a problem.

[leonid]

Hehe, Sorrow.  Okay, you beat me  

Everything that Sorrow said, and also the fact that the La-5FN is one of the fastest, if not the fastest roller at 300mph.  Another reason to snap roll into a scissors.

I emphasize Sorrow's statement about shooting close.  I usually try to shoot at collision range, which is very possible while scissoring, or 'rope-a-dope' high vert attacks.  If you get in that close, those two ShVAKs turn into four Hispanos  

I mostly fly the La-5FN, but do use the Yak-9U when we're outnumbered, or I'm not sure of the situation.  The reason is speed: a Yak-9U can leave any situation provided you aren't slow and low.  The La-5FN will have more difficulty leaving a fight.

The Yak-9U has a wider performance range(in altitude) than the La-5FN, being quite effective up to 20k.  The Lavochkin is out of its element once above 16-17k.  Also, range-wise, the La-5FN will take you further.

------------------
leonid, Kompol
5 GIAP VVS-KA, Knights

"Our cause is just.  The enemy will be crushed.  Victory will be ours."

[Hans]

 

I,m assuming that you have increased your climb angle to avoid this, correct? Once the gear are in the wells, you can re-establish the ideal climb speed/angle.

Eh?  I take off myself.  I only use autoclimb once I have a bit of altitude and am heading the direction I want to go.

I also agree with what everyone else is saying here about gunnery.  I get really close before I shoot.

Then again, I am learned my combat flying WarBirds 109Ks with a meager 60 round for the 30mm cannon.  I tend to hoard my bullets, even on the flying ammo dumps of the American Army Air Corp.

Hans.

[Sorrow[S=A]]

I think what he meant Widewing, was that the La-5FN has such a short take-off run and high acceleration that the gear starts "creaking" very quickly- often before the end of the runway since you achieve liftoff before the halfway mark.

The "creaking" is what happens on the gear to warn of an overstress condition. On any non-reinforced gears this occurs around 175-80 mph and at 200 or so the gear will be damaged and will not lock down or retract up.

Leo: You just fly the Yak 'cause you don't have the La-7 yet. C'mon fess up.


As per the close range bit: helps to fly like your trying to collide with the target- IE pull no lead for the guns just keep your plane flying at him. If your vertical plane is correct at 100 yds or less stomp on the rudder to line him up while firing. Don't worry- he will get at least 4 or more in the worst snapshot and with 20mm thats usually lethal or considerable damage. I don't reccomend attacking bombers with any VVS planes- they are risky business...

[leonid]

 

Sorrow, my comrade in arms, wrote:
Leo: You just fly the Yak 'cause you don't have the La-7 yet. C'mon fess up.


As per the close range bit: helps to fly like your trying to collide with the target- IE pull no lead for the guns just keep your plane flying at him. If your vertical plane is correct at 100 yds or less stomp on the rudder to line him up while firing. Don't worry- he will get at least 4 or more in the worst snapshot and with 20mm thats usually lethal or considerable damage. I don't reccomend attacking bombers with any VVS planes- they are risky business...

Yes, yes I do fly the Yak as a La-7 substitute.  And when that beauty of a beast graces the AH skies, I shall fly the Yak Nevermore!

As for attacking bombers, you can successfully take out bombers, so long as you:

• never attack from the 6 position.  Preferable positions are 8-10 o'clock, or 2-4 o'clock.
• make them as high speed as possible, and as vertical as possible.