(Lavochkin)

La-5

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La-5 is the airplane that saved Lavochkin’s design bureau from a potential demise in 1942 and even boosted the bureau’s reputation for years to come. This fighter is a result of desperate attempts to improve the insufficient capabilities of the LaGG-3 airplane which was designed by S. Lavochkin, V. Gorbunov and M.Gudkov. Due to its poor performance against the Luftwaffe fighters, the LaGG-3 was falling out of favour with the Soviet pilots and more importantly (for Lavochkin’s bureau) - with Stalin. Therefore, the factories producing the LaGG-3s were being converted to produce Yakovlev’s (Yak) airplanes instead. The saving grace for the Lavochkin’s design bureau came in the form of a new power plant which traced its origins from the M-25 engine ( the licensed version of the American Wright R-1820 Cyclone engine ), this new engine was Shevtsov’s M-82. The attempt to install this radial engine on the small airframe of the LaGG-3 which previously housed a much thinner, Klimov M-105PF engine, was a difficult task and required a re-design of the engine cowling. This was easier than designing a whole new airplane, but was still filled with new challenges and apprehensions, partly because the attempt to fit M-82 onto a LaGG-3 was actually already tried by Gudkov when he created his Gu-82 prototype airplane. This plane fell short of expectations, with its maximum speed being slightly lower than that of the standard LaGG-3.

No known photos or technical information exists about Gu-82 (it was probably lost in the chaos of wartime), therefore the image above is a hypothetical reconstruction of the Gu-82 prototype. What we do know about it is the following:
1) The M-82 engine, along with the entire engine cowling “shell” (and possibly the propeller spinner?) was taken from a Su-4 airplane and grafted on to the latest series production LaGG-3 body.
2) The oil cooler was attached to the bottom of the plane between fuselage frames 4 and 5, the space which previously contained the coolant radiator fairing.
3) Two prototypes were built. The first was to be armed with 2 synchronised BS machine guns, and 2 synchronised ShKAS guns. The prototype however didn’t have the ShKAS guns installed, and BS guns, although installed, had no barrels. The second prototype was to feature 2 ShVAK cannons in place of the BS guns and 2 BS guns in place of the ShKAS guns.
I did include the barrel holes on top of the engine cowling in the drawing above, but there is a chance that these did not exist on the prototype. The original Su-4 engine cowling didn’t have these holes for the guns.

The next attempt by the designers of the bureau to fit the M-82 engine onto a LaGG-3 however showed better results. The LaGG-3 M-82 prototype had a better rate of climb and was faster in level flight than its predecessors. But it wasn’t without problems - the overheating oil was the main issue, one other interesting issue was that the large engine tended to create high temperatures inside the cockpit. Various measures were taken to fix the flaws, though the problem of heat in the cockpit was never properly resolved in the La-5s and persisted even into the La-7 airplanes.

The difference between the "LaGG-3, M-82" prototype at the start of the State tests(above) and the modified version at the end of the tests(Bellow), roughly half a month later. The prototype was modified in a number of ways during the tests, some of these changed the airplane's outer appearance:
1) The ‘non retractible’ tailwheel marked by ‘1a’ was replaced with a retractible one marked by ‘1b’.
2) The oil cooler was changed to a larger OP-293 oil cooler.
3) The carburator airline was moved to the top of the engine cowl and the air intake on top of the cowl appeared. Interestingly, a similar-looking air intake was later used on the La-5FN variant, but not on the serial production La-5 and La-5Fs.

After tests at the NII VVS showed that the improved/modified LaGG-3 M-82 could reach the speed of 600 km/h (383mph) at altitude 6,450 meters, the new machine was ordered by the NKAP into serial production on May 20, 1942 [1] under the designation of LaG-5. M.Gudkov was out of the design bureau by this time, which is why one “G” in the LaGG designation was dropped. In time V. Gorbunov would move on to other projects, leaving only Lavochkin to continue work on the La-5, thus reducing the airplane designation from ‘LaG-5’ to just ‘La-5’ . Thus the powerful La-5 was born. It was built for the rest of 1942 until the focus shifted to the La-5F modification at the end of 1942. 1021 La-5s (not including the La-5F and the La-5FN modifications) were built [2].

La-5 turned out to be a formidable fighter at low altitudes, where most dogfights took place on the Eastern Front. It out-performed some of its German counterparts and was much liked by its pilots. It was fast in level flight, had a good climb rate and better manuverability in vertical flight than it’s predecessor, the LaGG-3 . It was a hardy fighter of simple construction, was easy to service and was well suited for makeshift airfields. The new, air-cooled radial M-82 engine provided many advantages, not least of which was the fact that it could absorb some of the bullets which were fired at the plane from the front, and still work. This imbued the La-5 pilots with courage to attack the enemy head-on which gave them an edge in air battles and helped to develop some new battle tactics. La-5 helped to create noticeable improvements in the performance of the VVS when this plane was put into service in the second half of 1942, just in time for the Battle of Stalingrad.

But before Stalingrad, 19 LaG-5 machines were first tested in battle by the 49-th IAP in the skies near Rzhev (West of Moscow). It is here that the Germans saw the La-5 for the first time and in the heat of battle the Germans often mistook it for an improved I-16 which appeared in the sky less and less as the war progressed. It is this confusion of La-5 with I-16, nicknamed ‘Rata’ (rat) by the Nationalists (and Germans who fought on their side) back in the days of the Spanish Civil War, that prompted the Luftwaffe pilots to refer to the new airplane as the ‘Neue Rata’ (New Rat) .
The battle tests showed the following:
‘In air battles when gaining altitude at high speeds German fighter BF-109F could not break away from LaG-5. At slow speeds because of the heaviness of the Soviet machine it lagged behind for a moment initially but then was quickly able to catch up. While maneuvering in horizontal planes our fighter successfully positioned itself on the tail of BF-109 because the turn radius of the latter was larger. Horizontal speeds of our and of the German airplanes were about the same, but when diving LaG-5 flew faster. The armament consisting of two 20-mm cannons, as it turned out, suited the fighter pilots just fine’ [3]

Deputy commander of the VVS headquarters, general-major Vikulenkov, on the 25-th of August wrote this in response to the battle tests:

‘Airplane LaGG-5 is the best fighter out of a number of domestically produced fighters currently present at the front’ [4]



At the end of August and in September of 1942 9 more regiments have received La-5 airplanes. At this time the focus of military activity became the area around the city of Stalingrad. More planes were produced, more regiments re-equipped and more Soviet pilots achieved impressive results behind the controls of this new and able fighter. The pilots of the 5-th GIAP who were active in defending the Stalingrad region wrote a letter to the workers of factory number 21 (where the overwhelming majority of La-5s was produced) thanking them for the new fighters by saying:

‘Our guards fighter regiment is fighting with the German vultures in airplanes type La-5 produced by your factory. Guards fighter pilots are pleased with your airplanes and warmly thank you for your selfless efforts. In air battles with German airplanes La-5 showed itself from an exceptionally good side. The machine is easy to pilot, stable and hardy. Notorious ‘Messerschmitts’ of all modifications do not enter in open battle with us. We can report to you that in your airplanes guards-fighter pilots of our regiment in just one month have downed 47 Fascist airplanes, without losing any of our own.[5]


La-5 has undergone some modifications while it was built in 1942. The most noticeable, visually, were the redesign of the curved windshield of the LaGG-5 into the flat windshield which became typical for the La-5 (Type-37). The flat windshield design was incorporated into the production line from about the 200th plane onwards. The other visually noticeable change was the redesign of the tailwheel mechanism allowing the wheel to retract fully into the fuselage, thus getting rid of the bulging tailwheel doors inherited from the LaGG-3 and improving the airplane’s aerodynamics slightly. This was implemented into the design during the production of the 04th series of La-5. The fuel tanks were reduced down from 5 tanks to three, this was incorporated into the production line from about the 09th series onwards. Various other modifications were incorporated into the design throughout La-5’s production in 1942, resulting in two new variants, the La-5F and the La-5FN.



Note the bulging tailwheel doors “1a” and the curved windshield design “2a” of the early La-5, both inherited from the LaGG-3. These were changed to flat tailwheel doors “1b” and a redesigned canopy with a flat windshield. These are two of the most noticeable differences in the side profile between the two version of the Type-37 La-5 design. The changes were implemented relatively early on (but not at the same time), therefore the redesigned version became the most common design for the La-5 (Type-37).

Apart from the difference in the canopy design, note the two extra fuel tank hatches on the Early La-5 marked by “1”. The 5 fuel tanks of the early La-5 were reduced down to 3 from the 09th series onwards. The early La-5 also had a trimmer on the left aileron, inherited from the LaGG-3, marked by “2”. This was removed on later models. The landing light which appears on the left wing of the early model was removed on most later models, but was left on the planes built for the P.V.O. units.

La-5s were flown by some of the greatest fighter pilots of all time, including Kirill Evstigneev and Ivan Kozhedub, two of the five top-scoring Allied Fighter Aces. Both of them flew exclusively Lavochkin airplanes throughout the war . Kozhedub scored 47 of his 64 victories, and Evstigneev scored all of his 52+ victories, while flying La-5 fighters of various modifications.

SPECIFICATIONS [6]

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

  • Crew: 1

  • Length: 8.67 m

  • Wingspan: 9.76 m

  • Height: 2.54 m

  • Wing area: 17.51 m2

  • Gross weight: 3,360 kg

  • Powerplant: 1 × Shvetsov M-82

PERFORMANCE

  • Maximum speed: 580 km/h at 6,500 m, 509/535 km/h at sea level

  • Range: 390 km

  • Service ceiling: 9600 m

  • Rate of climb: 877 m/min

ARMAMENT

  • Guns: 2 × 20 mm ShVAK cannon

  • Bombs: 2 × bombs, up to 100 kg each (FAB-100)

[1] The date is taken from page 7 of Modelist Konstruktor’s ‘Aviakollektsiya’ magazine , part 1 of Lavochkin La-5. Published in 2008.

[2] The number of La-5s built is taken from the book called ‘Lavočkin La-5’ by Miloš Veštšik, page 39. Published by MBI in 2006.

[3] The excerpt is taken from page 8 of Modelist Konstruktor’s ‘Aviakollektsiya’ magazine , part 2 of Lavochkin La-5. Published in 2008.

[4] The excerpt is taken from page 9 of Modelist Konstruktor’s ‘Aviakollektsiya’ magazine , part 2 of Lavochkin La-5. Published in 2008.

[5] The excerpt is taken from page 11 of Modelist Konstruktor’s ‘Aviakollektsiya’ magazine , part 2 of Lavochkin La-5. Published in 2008.

[6] Specifications are derived from various sources. “Performance” specifications are derived from the book called ‘Lavochkin La-5’ by Miloš Veštšík, published by MBI in 2006. Page 108