Evstigneev’s White-14
Lavochkin, La-5FN (Late)
178 GIAP (240 IAP), of the 14-th GIAD, 3-rd GIAK, 5-th Air Army, 2-nd Ukrainian Front , Hungary, circa late February or March 1945.
Flown by the two times Hero Of the Soviet Union (number 4 top-scoring Allied fighter ace), Kirill Alekseevich Evstigneev. (ace with 55 victories (52 personal + 3 shared)
Kirill Alekseevich Evstigneev was one of the greatest fighter aces of all time. With 52(solo)+ 3(shared) victories according to Mikhail Bykov’s research [1], he is amongst the 5 highest-scoring Soviet (and therefore Allied) fighter aces of WW2 . The highest-scoring (based on personal victories) Allied fighter ace, Ivan Kozhedub, had very high regard for Evstigneev’s skills. An article titled ‘A pilot from God, four times candidate for Hero of the Soviet Union’ [3] mentions a meeting with Kozhedub and Pokryshkin (another top ace) in which they were asked about who in their opinion was the most effective Soviet fighter pilot of WW2, to which they both unanimously replied- Evstigneev! Kozhedub and Evstigneev both served in 240IAP (which in 1944 was renamed into 178 GIAP) , they were good friends and sometimes even flew the same airplanes, which brings us to ‘White-14’.
There is some mystery surrounding the ‘White-14’ featured on this page because very little is known about this particular airplane and most of the time this warbird is presumed to be Kozhedub’s ‘White-14’ which we know that Evstigneev inherited after Kozhedub was transferred to 176- th GIAP. To say that the plane featured on this page is ex. Kozhedub’s White-14 is not correct, though it is not entirely incorrect either, here is why:
It’s not correct because we can actually see in the photo reference that Evstigneev’s ‘White-14’ is not the same plane as Kozhedub’s ‘White-14’ . Evstigneev’s is clearly a La-5FN, while Kozhedub’s is a La-5F. We can tell this from the metal side panels on the fuselage of Evstigneev’s La-5FN, the large FN air intake on the nose, the FN cowl flaps and all the other features of the FN, not to mention the different design of the slogan to that of Kozhedub’s plane, and so on. These are two completely different airplanes.
It might not be entirely incorrect because Evstigneev’s La-5FN White-14, according to the research by A. Stankov [5], was originally an airplane with a serial number 3921FN1445 (other sources indicate 39211445) and a tactical number 45 (White-45), which was allegedly flown by Kozhedub on some occasions! It has been hypothesised that this plane was repainted into what we have come to know as Evstigneev’s White-14.
Illustration above shows plane “White-45” which is presumed to have been repainted into what we know as “Evstigneev’s White-14”. Please note that the illustration above is hypothetical.
There are some clues in the photo reference which help to confirm the idea that La-5FN with a serial number 39211445 (White-45) was repainted to look similar to La-5F with a serial number 3811414 (White-14). But of course this is presuming that the photo itself has not been manipulated/photo-retouched. Apart from the more obvious clues, such as the freshly repainted number 14 with the outline being mostly painted over, here are a couple which are less noticeable, but are compelling:
1) The hand-painted serial number on the tail of White-14 La-5FN (Presumably Ex.39211445) is that of Kozhedub’s La-5F plane (3811414)!
The fact that the serial number looks hand-painted is another clue in itself, because factory applied numbers were applied with the use of a stencil.
2) According to a list of known serial numbers of Lavochkin’s airplanes, La-5FN number 39211445 (White-45) belonging to 178th GIAP, is listed as ‘lost’ on the 17th of February 1945. But this happens to be the day when Kozhedub’s White-14 La-5F that was crash landed by Evstigneev and most likely written off. Surprisingly, in that same list, Kozhedub’s famous White-14 (3811414) is NOT listed as ‘lost’ on that day - this is completely in reverse to what the logic would dictate.
The likely explanation for this is that rather than admitting that Kozhedub’s famous White-14 was lost/crashed, it was White-45 which was chosen to be listed as ‘lost’ but in reality it was not lost but was repainted to look similar to Kozhedub’s White-14. This makes a little more sense knowing that this was done shortly before a photo session with Evstigneev to mark him receiving his H.S.U title. Using a more reputable La-5 modification (La-5FN instead of the La-5F) and by embellishing it with a “prettier” looking inscription ( on the left side at least), achieved a convincing result for the newspapers and a stronger piece of propaganda for the public, as well as simply a prettier backdrop for Evstigneev’s photos. This is just a speculation at this stage of course, but the evidence seems to point this way.
But, did Evstigneev actually fly the airplane featured on this page in battle or was it just a “prop/backdrop” for the photo session?
In his memoirs Evstigneev implies that he flew Kozhedub’s Famous White-14 in 1944 and 1945 (Not the plane featured on this page). He describes the various victories that he scored while flying it and says that he crash landed it on the 17th of February 1945 when after attacking a FW-190 head-on and downing it (Evstigneev’s 55-th personal victory according to him), Kozhedub’s White-14 was damaged and one of its landing gears failed to come out, requiring Evstigneev to land the plane on one wheel, subsequently crash landing it. After Evstigneev crash landed Kozhedub’s White-14, he might have flown two other airplanes, one of them could have been the plane featured on this page because the photos of this plane were taken AFTER the crash landing of Kozhedub’s machine, and the other plane was White-78. Evstigneev allegedly scored his second-to-last victory (he downed the FW-190 which damaged White-14’s landing gear) in Kozhedub’s White-14 on the day that he crashed it, and his last victory was scored just over one month later, most likely while flying the White-78, which leaves me guessing whether he flew the plane featured on this page at all. If he did then it doesn’t seem likely that he flew it much at all. A Foreword to Evstigneev’s book mentions that Evstigneev flew five La-5 Planes in WW2 (He only flew La-5 planes in battle during WW2), which means that there is no room for the plane featured on this page to be included in that list. Evstigneev’s planes might have been:
1)La-5 (White-02?),
2) (La-5F White-55 or 85)?,
3)La-5(F?) White/Black-96, (the plane in which Evstigneev scored most of his victories)
4)La-5F White-14 (Kozhedub’s famous plane)
5) La-5F White-78
Various sources say that Evstigneev flew the La-5FN featured on this page in Romania and Hungary in 1944 and 1945 and scored 5 of his “second-to-last” victories in it. However this doesn’t seem to match what Evstigneev himself implied because Evstigneev mentioned that he flew Kozhedub’s famous White-14 during that time. Based on the details those sources provide it seems to me that they might be mistaking this La-5FN for Kozhedub’s famous White-14 La-5F airplane.
Of course there is a chance that the plane featured on this page might have been a plane that was flown by Evstigneev around the same time as White-78, in late February or spring of 1945. It is possible that the events described on ‘White-78’s page might have taken place behind the controls of White-14 La-5FN instead of White-78 La-5F. But Evstigneev does describe the plane he flew around that time as ‘OLD’ which makes it more likely that it was White-78 La-5F. Also White-78 is usually considered to be the last plane that Evstigneev flew in WW2 and the plane that he scored his last victory in, not White-14 La-5FN. But this info might be incorrect.
To conclude: It is difficult to resolve the mystery of White-14 La-5FN, but the limited evidence that could be found seems to support the hypothesis that the La-5FN featured on this page might have been a repainted machine that acted mostly as a ‘backdrop’ for Evstigneev’s photo session. Evstigneev probably didn’t fly this La-5FN in battle for long (or at all?) and probably did not score any victories in it. (But please note! these are just conclusions based on the evidence I could find thus far, as well as the narrative suggested by A.Stankov (As can be evidenced by the list of Evstigneev’s and Kozhedub’s airplanes he published), as well as the discussions with others. I am not a professional researcher/historian so take this conclusion with a ‘‘grain of salt”). I am hoping that an upcoming book about La-5 planes by Aleksandr Stankov (or research by others who have access to the military archives) will help to answer some of the questions about this airplane.
Noteworthy Visual Characteristics
General) Some of the airplane, especially the back part, appears to have been freshly repainted. The white areas- number, chevron, inscription, all look quite clean/fresh. The plane was originally painted in accordance with the Grey/Grey camo pattern as can be seen on the engine cowling, but the repainted back section of the airplane appears to not have respected the camo pattern very much, since it looks almost uniformly coloured with AMT-11 grey. The upper surfaces of the wings might have been given a fresh coat of paint too, diffusing the camo pattern on them.
The stars appeared in the 6 standard positions.
1. The propeller blades look quite light. They might have been painted grey, possibly the same AMT-11 as the plane itself. It’s also possible that they might have been bare silver, though it’s less likely since the back of the propeller blades were often painted a non reflective colour to prevent sun reflections rather than being left as ‘bare metal’.
2. The colour of the nose is another controversial subject. Some portray it as AMT-7 light blue (same as the lower surfaces of the plane), some portray it as darker blue and some portray it as red. Red is the most likely candidate since it was often used on the noses of the Soviet fighter planes, therefore without knowing exactly which colour it was it’s probably safest to presume that it was red. The tone of the colour in the B/W photo of this plane appears to be quite light, lighter than the red of the stars. This might have been the same ‘Bright Red’ (interpreted as ‘Pozharniy') that appeared on the planes of the ‘Mongolskiy Arat’ regiment, which was also lighter than the red of the stars.Or maybe it was painted A II Kr. while the stars were painted A-13 Red.
3. The ‘FN’ logo on the engine cowling and on the tip of the tail appears like it was oversprayed lightly with paint during the repainting of the airplane.
4.The ‘Gvardiya’ (Guards) emblem appears just below the front of the canopy.
5. The metal side panel is that of the late type La-5FN.
6. The white chevron is the identification mark of the 3 GIAK (3-rd guard’s fighters, Yassi’s, Red Bannered, order of Suvorov, aviation corps) from around that time.
7. The slogan on the side of the plane reads: ‘От колхозника Конева Василия Викторовича’ which translates to: ‘From the collective farmer Konev Vasiliy Viktorovich’.
8. If you will look closely at the reference image HERE you will see some light ‘overspray’ to the left of the tactical number.
9. The tactical number in the reference photo linked above appears to be slightly lighter than the white of the star, the chevron and the slogan. This implies that the number ‘14’ might have been painted more recently than the other markings or maybe even a slightly different ‘White’ paint was used. Also, it appears that the number has a very slight outline around parts of it. Possibly an attempt at painting the outline by those who repainted this airplane. It might also be an illusion due to the quality of the photograph and in real life the number might have been left without the outline.
10. The tail star appears to be slightly skewed.
11. This is arguably the most fascinating detail - The serial number of this airplane appears to be 3811414 in the fragment of the high resolution photograph below (Courtesy of A.Stankov). This is a serial number of Kozhedub’s White-14 La-5F plane!!! The number appears to have been painted by hand as opposed to being ‘factory stencil-applied’, which helps to support the theory that this airplane was an attempt to re-create Kozhedub’s famous White-14.
12. On Patreon
13. On Patreon
14. On Patreon
15. On Patreon
Here are a few closeup images to help illustrate the points above. Full set of closeup images is On Patreon
FOOTNOTES
[1]http://airaces.narod.ru/all1/evstign.htm Their info is taken from the book by M. Y. Bykov - "Victory of Stalin's falcons". Publish. "Yauza - EKSMO", 2008.
[2] https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=356460807862579&set=a.356457884529538
[4] 23 of February is the date when Evstigneev received his second H.S.U title which entitled him to wear the second ‘Gold Star’ medal which he is wearing in the photos with White-14 La5FN.
[5] This is based on the poster published by A.Stankov on his Facebook page (and other sources). https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=741571089351547&set=a.356457884529538
[6] Taken from page 123 of Evstigneev’s book called Крылатая гвардия. «Есть упоение в бою!» Second edition.
LINKS TO THE REFERENCE Images and videos
http://soviet-aces-1936-53.ru/abc/e/evstign11.jpg
All the work presented on this is page is subject to updates and revisions in the light of new information which might present itself. If you have any new information relevant to this page or disagree with anything that's presented here, then please feel free to contact me through the Planes in Profile Facebook page. Thanks:)
Special thanks to Alexandr Stankov for being kind enough to answer some of my questions and for allowing the use of a fragment of a high res. photograph which shows the airplane’s repainted serial number.
