Author Topic: How does the LA7 fly so fast? (Read 249 times)

fdiron · « **on:** December 13, 2001, 03:42:00 AM »

I was in the MA last night flying the LA7. With WEP on, I reached a speed of 400mph on the deck (may have been just a tad lower, perhaps 397mph)! Considering it is so fast at sea level, what type of maximum speed does the LA7 pump out at 25k?

funkedup · « **Reply #1 on:** December 13, 2001, 03:49:00 AM »

http://www.hitechcreations.com/models/la7.html

MANDOBLE · « **Reply #2 on:** December 13, 2001, 03:53:00 AM »

LA7 is extremely good only up to 10k, good up to 20k and above it its performance drops quickly. At 25k La7 is almost a sitting duck.

Sundog · « **Reply #3 on:** December 13, 2001, 01:57:00 PM »

The reason it is faster down low than high is because most of the fights on the Eastern front were as tactical support for the ground troops, so most of the aerial battles were below 20K. The Russians did have aircraft in development for higher alts, such as the MiG I-222 thru I-224, but they never really needed them. It should be noted that the MiG-3 was reportedly better at higher alts than low alts.

As such, many of the popular Russian fighters were optimized for where they were fighting. Thats why the La's and Yak's really start to show a performance drop off above 20K. Down low though, they are great aircraft (The La-5FN being my personal favorite

-).