The Lavochkin La-5 was a Soviet fighter
that saw action in the later years of the Second World War. It was possibly the most
important Soviet fighter of the conflict, as it became the first to achieve a rough parity
with German types used on the Eastern Front.
When Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June
22, 1941, the Red Army Air Force, or VVS, had three modern and recently introduced fighter
aircraft. The Yak-1, the MiG-3, and the LaGG-3. All of them, in one way or another, were
inferior to the Messerschmitt Bf 109F, the main German fighter at that point.
But their outlooks weren’t equal; the MiG-3 and LaGG-3 had a worse one, and production was slowly
switching to the more pilot-friendly Yak-1.
The main issue with the LaGG-3 had been its
excessive weight. Its designer, Simeon Lavochkin, had made various attempts to lighten it,
including the removal of a great deal of its initially potent armament. But although it
got better, it came to a point where further improvement was only possible by replacing its
Klimov M-105 engine with a more powerful one.
Meanwhile, in the early days of 1942, another
aircraft was failing to meet the Soviet leadership’s expectations: the Sukhoi Su-2 light
bomber. Powered by a Tumansky M-88 radial engine, the Su-2 was to be improved with
the new and better Shvetsov M-82. But this never happened since production of the
Su-2 was stopped, leaving the M-82 available.
This engine had the potential to be what Lavochkin
was looking for, save for one very big problem: its diameter. The cross section of the M-82
was nearly half a meter wider than that of the LaGG-3. It was also 250 kg heavier and much
shorter, adding balance problems to the equation.
With this in mind, Lavochkin saw the need
to design a new aircraft from scratch. But that was a lengthy process, and the VVS was
in dire need of a new fighter. In addition, there was an internal war being waged between
Soviet design bureaus. Lavochkin was aware that his rival Alexander Yakovlev was using his
political connections to change factory production from the LaGG-3 to his own Yak fighters. This
would mean the end of Lavochkin’s bureau, and he knew it. Furthermore, the M-82 engine was also
being tried on several other competing aircraft.
And so, time was of the essence, and the M-82 was
fitted in a somewhat rushed manner to the LaGG-3’s airframe. A transition from the fuselage to the
engine cowling was created using pine formers covered in plywood skinning and two large cooling
flaps were added to each side of the engine.
Incredibly, the result was good, and the
LaGG-3 M-82, as it was called at this point, could almost hide the fact that its structure
was never meant for a radial engine.
The prototype flew for the first time
on March 1942, and it reached a speed of 600 km/h, faster than any other Soviet
fighter in production at that point:
Testing also revealed that the engine had
insufficient cooling, especially in the top cylinders. This would be a recurring problem
throughout the La-5's operational life.
Two months later, on May 18, Lavochkin met
with Josef Stalin, and the LaGG-3 M-82 was approved for production. This saved Lavochkin’s
bureau, as it also stopped the intended change in production to Yakovlev fighters. The first was
delivered on June 20 with the designation LaG-5, later changed to just La-5.
Much like its predecessor, it was almost entirely made of wood. The
engine cowling, the front part of the fuselage, the engine and gun mountings, and the moving
surfaces were the only exceptions. The aim had always been to use as few strategic materials
as feasible, and this was achieved partially by using an advanced process called Delta Drevesina,
or Delta Wood, a phenol-formaldehyde impregnated plywood that was used in key structural
points and gave the LaGG-3 and now the La-5 considerable sturdiness and fire resistance.
Its fire resistance was also owed to an interesting system where combustion gases
were filtered and fed into the fuel tanks, providing a layer of inert gases.
At its heart was the M-82, a two-row, 14-cylinder, air-cooled radial engine that could
develop 1,700 hp at sea level. It had a two-speed supercharger and drove a VISh-105V propeller.
The M-82 which was later renamed ASh-82 in honour of its designer Arkadiy Shvetsov,
traced its lineage to the M-25 a licensed version of the American Wright Cyclone R-1820,
the engine that powered aircraft like the SBD Dauntless and the B-17 Flying Fortress.
Above the engine was the La-5’s armament of two ShVAK 20 mm cannons, synchronized
to fire through the propeller.
Thorough testing of production La-5s
followed, and, for several reasons, including poor production quality, the
results were on the disappointing side. The maximum speed had dropped to 580 km/h,
about 20 less than the prototype. Nonetheless, the new fighter was faster than older models.
The La-5 made its operational debut in August 1942 during the Battle of Stalingrad, and despite
being inferior to the Bf 109’s new G variant, Soviet pilots liked it and believed it gave
them a fighting chance. Nonetheless, the La-5 was still a relatively rare sight during much of
the battle as the overwhelming majority of Soviet fighter regiments were equipped with Yak-1s.
Toward the end of 1942, an improved version of the M-82 became available. It was called the
M-82F, with F standing for Forsirovanniy, boosted in Russian. It had the same power
as the original engine but didn’t have a time limitation on the boost, which had been 5
minutes on the basic M-82 as the exhausts would burn beyond that point. There were other, smaller
improvements, but overheating remained a problem.
La-5s equipped with this engine were known as
La-5Fs, and they could be distinguished by an inscription in the engine cowling with
the letter F in Cyrillic. In addition, it was roughly around this time that the Soviet
fighter received a very important modification: the 360-degree vision canopy. There was also the
removal of two fuel tanks in order to lighten the airframe and some modifications to the
flight surfaces to improve maneuverability.
The result? The prototype reached 612 km/h
and took about 19 seconds to make a full 360-degree turn, a considerable improvement.
This variant reached the frontlines in the final stages of the Battle of Stalingrad, and pilots
clearly felt the upgrade as it was a notch above the original. Due to this, more and more were
produced, to the point that it became one of the most common fighters in frontline units.
On July 4, 1943, the day before the Battle of Kursk, in the three air armies assigned
to the region, the Soviet Union had 15 fighter regiments equipped with La-5s
of all variants, by far the second most common fighter surpassed only by the Yak-1.
In the fighting over Kursk, some La-5-equipped regiments seemingly achieved good results. This
is better exemplified by a certain Ivan Kozhedub, who between July 6 and August 22, roughly inside
what is considered the timeframe of that battle, shot down his first nine aircraft. He would
end the war with more than 60 victories, becoming the highest-scoring allied
pilot of the Second World War. All of those were achieved flying a La-5 or 7.
It was also during Kursk that the final and most important variant of the
La-5 made its debut. The La-5FN.
Once again, an important engine modification
defined this iteration of the Soviet fighter. The new M-82FN engine had direct fuel
injection to the cylinders. It also had improvements to the cylinder cooling
fins, rods, and pistons, and the exhaust system was overhauled by turning the single
exhaust tube per side into five. Apparently, this new arrangement accounted for a small
increase in thrust. All those changes resulted in an engine that now had 1850 hp, was less likely
to overheat, and was more reliable in general.
Testing of the La-5FN prototype
showed a maximum speed of 648 km/h, an increase of 36 over the F variant.
Upon reaching the frontlines, the La-5FN became the first fighter of Soviet origin to match
the performance of German fighters. Let’s see.
At this point, the Focke Wulf Fw 190A-5
was probably the best fighter that Germany had on the Eastern Front, since the Bf 109G was
having trouble with its maximum power setting.
Comparing their performance, we can see that the
La-5 was slightly faster than the Fw 190 at sea level. This changed above 5,000 meters, and
there is no doubt that the German fighter was superior at higher altitudes, but on the Eastern
Front, most air clashes were below 5k meters.
Furthermore, the Soviet machine had a better
climb rate up until that altitude and had a considerable advantage in continuous turns
closer to the ground. Nonetheless the Fw 190 was possibly superior in the initial part of
the turn thanks to its outstanding roll rate.
The La-5 was certainly inferior in many other
very important aspects like armament, avionics, ground-attack capability, and overall handling,
the last due to the 190’s extraordinary level of automation. When making a full comparison, I
believe the Fw 190 was the superior machine. But looking solely at the aircraft's performance,
it's easy to see why Soviet pilots felt they were at least on equal footing.
But did the Germans agree?
In late 1944, a captured La-5FN was tested at
Rechlin, Germany. Werner Lerche, the test pilot, felt that the FN was a significant improvement
when compared with other Soviet fighters and that it was a threat below 3000 m (9,840
ft), especially to the Fw 190. Nonetheless, he felt that the Bf 109G, with the then recent
introduction of methanol injection, was superior.
It’s important to note that this specific
La-5 had been in service for some time and was possibly worn out, as the results don’t match
the aircraft’s known performance. Regardless, it seems the Germans felt that the
La-5FN was a dangerous opponent more than a year after its entry into service.
In more factual terms, the La-5 took the brunt of the fighting during 1943 and the first
half of 1944. Consequently, during those years, more than 2,000 were lost in combat, making
the La-5 one of the Soviet fighters with the highest overall number of combat losses. On
the other hand, nearly half (45) of the top 100 aces of the Soviet Union (24+ claims)
flew Lavochkin fighters, mainly the La-5.
Beyond its important contributions on the
battlefield, the La-5 also led to the La-7, which appeared in mid-1944 and was one of
the best low-altitude fighters of the war.
The La-5 is one of those untouchable aircraft, at
least from a Soviet perspective. In my opinion, in terms of relative importance, the La-5 was
to the Soviets what the Spitfire was to the British or the Mustang to the Americans.
Now, this doesn’t mean that the La-5 had an endless number of virtues. It didn’t. It was
actually a flawed machine, at least in its origin, and when looking at the overall level of
technology involved, the Soviet fighter might even come across as being unremarkable. But sometimes
in warfare, being simpler is not a bad thing.
The La-5 had most certainly a negative kill
ratio, but it seems this was mainly due to the inexperience of Soviet pilots and outdated tactics
rather than a fault of the aircraft itself, as many of the most experienced Soviet pilots
were able to use it in a quite effective manner.
In the end, regardless of the aircraft’s true
merits, the FN version gave Soviet pilots the feeling of being at least on par with the
Germans. This in itself is of extreme importance, as now those pilots could see a light at the end
of the tunnel. They might even survive the war.
Sometimes in warfare less is more. Do you agree? Do you remember any examples of that?
Let me know in the comments below.
This is all I have for you today.
Thank you very much for watching!
