Here ya go Spitlead. Some real facts
. The quotes in
bold are taken from 'La5/7 in Action', the veracity of the information therein is regarded as accurate. It relates to the
production La-7 not some prototype.
"The standard production La-7 had a top speed of...367 mph at sea level."Take a look at the chart showing the speed versus altitude for the Aces High La-7; you'll see the black line intersects the speed axis at... about 367 mph! Fancy that!
"At 20,000ft the the La-7 had a top speed of 407mph...Again, take a look at the aforementioned graph. At 20,000 ft the La-7 has a speed of... about 410 mph. Amazing!
OK, that's the unbelievable, unrealistic high speed dealt with
. Now let's look at climb rate:
"The climb rate was greatly improved [compared to the La-5FN]. The La-7 easily outclimbed the Fw 190 A-8 up to 16,404 feet. The La-7 reached this altitude in 4.95 minutes, while the Fw 190 A-8 required six minutes."Hmmm... check the AH La-7 and you'll find it is remarkably close to this value.
I'm sure Verm has much more info to give you.
BTW, those that flew the La-7 positively
mullahed the LW in the closing years of the war. Between 15 September and 15 October 1944 the 63rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment scored 55 victories (52 FW190s and 3 109s) for the loss of only four La-7s. Perhaps pilot quality counted to some degree, but the fact remains that the la-7 was a superb fighter.
[ 06-27-2001: Message edited by: Dowding ]