Lavochkin La-7

From The Air Combat Wiki

Contents 1 Quick Link 2 Fighter Ace Screenshots 3 Fighter Ace Ratings 4 Fighter Ace Performance 5 Historical Statistics 6 Strengths 7 Weaknesses 8 History 9 Sources 10 See Also 11 Quick Link

Quick Link

• Fighter Ace Flight Museum: WWII US / GB / SU / GE / JP / Jets and Post WWII // Planes Inventory (text list)
• Fighter Ace Plane Physics: Speeds / Accelerations / Climb Speeds / Star Ratings
• Fighter Ace Weapons: Guns / Rockets / Bombs / Torpedoes

Fighter Ace Screenshots

Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ
Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ

Fighter Ace Ratings

Durability: 3

Speed: 7

Maneuverability: 6

Firepower: 6

Climb Rate: 8

Ground Attack: 3

Fighter Ace Performance

Top Speeds						Climb Rates
	Sea Level	4921' 1500m	9843' 3000m	19685' 6000m	Best Speed	Best IAS	to 1000m	to 3000m	to 6000m
mph	359	377	395	408	409@ 20341'	183 mph	0:54	2:27	5:50
mph WEP	381	400	403	n/a	410@ 7546'
kph	578	607	635	658	658@ 6200m	295 kph
kph WEP	613	644	649	n/a	660@ 2300m

Historical Statistics

Service Date: May 1944

Primary Guns: 1x 20mm Beresin B-20 cannon with 150 rpg in cowl

Secondary Guns: 2x 20mm Beresin B-20 cannon with 150 rpg in cowl

Ordnance: 2x 110 lb (50 kg) or 2x 220 lb (100 kg) bombs or 6x 33 lb (15 kg) RS-82 rockets

Engine(s): 1x Shvetsov ASh-82FNV radial piston engine rated for 1,775 hp at sea level (1,935 hp with WEP)

Int Fuel Capacity: 793 lbs (360 kg)

Ext Fuel Capacity: none

Maximum Speeds: 373 mph (600 kph) at sea level; 423 mph (681 kph) at 22,300 ft (6,797 m)

Ceiling: 35,105 ft (10,700 m)

Loaded Weight: 7,187 lb (3.260 kg)

Wing Area: 189.3 sq ft (17.6 sq m)

Wing Loading: 38.0 lbs/sq ft (185.2 kg/sq m)

Strengths

Speed: Production fighters were able to reach 407 mph at 20,000 feet and the La-7 outperformed its German contemporaries at all altitudes lower than that.

Maneuverability: As with the La-5FN, the La-7 could outmaneuver its opponents in both the vertical and horizontal plane.

Weaknesses

Durability: The retention of wooden components gave the La-7 a disadvantage over the all-metal fighters it faced.

History

By 1943, the power output of the modified, improved and injected M-82 engine was as high as it would ever get. Hopes for improved performance in the Lavochkin fighter were thus pinned on adopting the new M-71 radial, but development problems with the engine kept it from entering service until after the war.

That left the Lavochkin team with making improvements to the airframe in order to get better performance. Working with a basic La-5 airframe, considerable changes were made to aerodynamic structure by moving inlets and a careful redesign of the cowl. Replacement of some wooden parts with lighter metal ones resulted in an overall weight savings, which combined with the improved aerodynamic shape to give the prototype a 40 mph improvement in top speed over the production La-5FN.

Initial versions were fitted with a pair of 20mm ShVAK cannon with 200 rpg in the cowl, but when the lighter Beresin B-20 cannon became available, production was switched to include three of these weapons with 150 rpg. The La-7 was both faster and more maneuverable than the FW-190A-8 at all altitudes up to 20,000 feet and a total of 5,905 La-7s were delivered.

Sources

Stapfer, Hans-Heiri; La 5/7 Fighters In Action; Squadron/Signal Publications, Carrollton, TX; 1998.

Gordon; Yefim and Khazanov, Dmitri; Soviet Combat Aircraft of the Second World War Volume One: Single-Engined Fighters; Midland Publishing Limited, Leicester, England; 1998.

See Also

Aircraft Manufacturers During World War II

Quick Link

• Fighter Ace Flight Museum: WWII US / GB / SU / GE / JP / Jets and Post WWII // Planes Inventory (text list)
• Fighter Ace Plane Physics: Speeds / Accelerations / Climb Speeds / Star Ratings
• Fighter Ace Weapons: Guns / Rockets / Bombs / Torpedoes