Author Topic: La-7 (Read 569 times)

Stegahorse · « **on:** June 19, 2003, 09:39:35 PM »

Several references I have found list the La-7 going into service mid 1943.
A Russian site listed below in Russian about Lavochkin shows 3 La-7 variants in 1943.
The La-7 was the same as La-5FN but have some refinements that reduced drag, some lightening of the frame and the addition of a third cannon. These refinements would not have required re-tooling so I take the in service date as July 1943 or so.
References
http://www.airwar.ru/enc_e/fww2/la7.html
http://www2.ctrl-c.liu.se/misc/ram/la-7.html
http://www.aviation.ru/La/
http://www.sergib.agava.ru/russia/lavochkin/la_list.htm

Pongo · « **Reply #1 on:** June 19, 2003, 11:16:59 PM »

There were no even planned production La7s till May 44 real low rate production in June.
Service tests in September 44

Until the end of 44 the production ones were almost indistiguishable from our La5fn.

Stegahorse · « **Reply #2 on:** June 20, 2003, 02:49:51 AM »

Read the threads. The last one is a Russian site. La-7p was delivered in may 44 but they were out there in July 43 or so.
First La-5 was Mar 42

Dowding · « **Reply #3 on:** June 20, 2003, 04:12:13 AM »

Wishful thinking. The third cannon was a 1945 configuration. As for actual production, the sources I have about Lavochkin planes detail production as being in 1944/45. I don't doubt there were production prototypes in 1943, but none reached frontline units until mid-1944.

The entry date for the La-5 is irrelevant.

Dr Zhivago · « **Reply #4 on:** June 20, 2003, 02:37:45 PM »

First operational unit received its La-5Fn in 7~8-43.
And La-7 entered service in 7-44.
"Three cannon" La-7 production started 3-45 and only about 368 planes were made when war ended.

Edit: First La-7 patch was only 57 planes delivered in 6-44 for operational testing and 7-44 108 planes was in service. In total Ruskies got only 225 La-7s in service during September of 1944...

bustr · « **Reply #5 on:** June 20, 2003, 03:45:47 PM »

Lavochkin fell out of favor with Stalin 42-43, so his LA-7 plans were put on hold except for doing in the field modifications to LA-5's which were called LA-5xx. The radiator was still under the engine not under the pilot, and they carried 2 cannon. Eventually Lavochkin came back in favor with Stalin and was granted a factory and a mandate to build "The Boss" a world beater fighter plane in 44. Stalin was worried about Allied aircraft developments in the West(Always the forward thinking Paranoid). This became the LA-7 we know in AH with the radiator moved back under the pilot, 3 improved cannons, a bigger more powerful engine than the LA-5 , and improved external streamlining.

The LA-5FN can be concidered an early generation LA-7. They were the same plane. Politics and orders not to produce anything but the LA-5 kept Lavochkin from calling it the LA-7.

-bustr-

Pongo · « **Reply #6 on:** June 20, 2003, 04:17:47 PM »

wow
My dates are from Gordon and Kazanov. I will believe them thanks.

bustr · « **Reply #7 on:** June 20, 2003, 06:18:02 PM »

Pongo, I'm sorry. What the date reference was to is this. Lavochkin went out of favor with Stalin somewhere 42-43. Almost lost his life due to it. He was told just to build La-5 and nothing else. He continued to peform feild upgrades to LA-5's which became the LA-5Fn. Or the first LA-7's. Due to politics he could only call them LA-5xx. But the modifications were the foundation of the LA-7 series. Mig and Yak were in favor and had factories and resources. In 44 Lavochkin came back into favor with Stalin. Stalin gave him a factory and resources. Thats how the LA-7 we love in the MA came into being.

I grew up starting at the middle of the cold war. Both of my parents retired from NSA. At one point my father was stationed near Afganistan at Pasawar. His job was interpreting Russian Military chatter to give the takeoff timing for RB-57's and U-2's from Pasawar to evade missle batteries for photo recon missions over Russia and Northern China. My family was on the post with him. The Russians sent Yak-25's to buzz the post as intimidation. the Pakistani defence force would show up in F-86's and a chase to the Afgan border would ensue. Quite exciting when it happened.

Especially being 6 years old.

-bustr-

Pongo · « **Reply #8 on:** June 21, 2003, 11:28:29 AM »

Sorry, the La7 has some specific features different then an La5fn. It has a metal main wing spar for one. And then the relocated air intake and fewer air scoops. It is a different plane and cannot be deemed in production in 1943 period. It was in service in late 1944.

bustr · « **Reply #9 on:** June 21, 2003, 05:52:55 PM »

Pogo, I apologise again,,let me opt out of this. I know very little about the breed history of the Laag and LA by Semen Alekseevich Lavochkin. My father also was not a Russian linguist for SAC and later NSA. And I never was flown over by Yak-25's in Pasawar Pakistan in 1962.

Please forgive me this obvious gaff.

-bustr-

GRUNHERZ · « **Reply #10 on:** June 21, 2003, 06:06:28 PM »

I had a P51D once buzz me only 20 feet above my head, this is relevant because this naturally lends credence to the fact that I know a lot about lockheed aircaft...

bustr · « **Reply #11 on:** June 21, 2003, 06:44:00 PM »

Naw, I knew about Lavochkin because my father was also a private pilot and very interested in all aspects of aircraft and their history. He started flying gliders in England at Dunstable Downs in 1960 when we were living in Luton. He was stationed at Chicksands randar installation. In Pasawar Pakistan, thats where Gary Powers launched from when his U-2 got shot down, my father started flying Auster Aircraft Ltd. Austers from the Pasawar airport. His instuctor there flew spits against the Japanese out of India in WW2.

An all Red P38 flew over me at Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio Texas in 1965 while I was at the Base Golf Club's Driving Range. I know nothig to this day about P38's but wish I did so I could shoot them down.