Lavochkin La-9
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| La-9 "Fritz" | |
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| Type | Fighter |
| Manufacturer | Lavochkin |
| Maiden flight | 1946 |
| Introduced | August 1946 |
| Status | Out of service |
| Primary users | Soviet Air Force Romanian Air Force North Korea Air Force |
| Produced | 1946-1948 |
| Number built | 1,559 |
| Variants | Lavochkin La-11 |
The Lavochkin La-9 (NATO reporting name Fritz) was an early post-World War II Soviet fighter aircraft.
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[edit] Development
La-9 represents further development of the Lavochkin La-126 prototype. First prototype, designated La-130 was finished in 1946. Similarity to the famous Lavochkin La-7 was only superficial -- the new fighter had all-metal construction, a laminar flow wing, and a pressurized cockpit. Weight savings due to elimination of wood from the airframe allowed for greatly improved fuel capacity and four-cannon armament. Mock combat demonstrated that La-130 was evenly matched with La-7 but was inferior to Yakovlev Yak-3 in both horizontal and vertical planes. The new fighter, officially designated La-9, entered production in August 1946. A total of 1,559 aircraft were built by the end of production in 1948.
Only one La-9 remains in airworthy condition today, ZK-LIX (pictured above at Warbirds Over Wanaka) in Wanaka, New Zealand, having been restored by Pioneer Aero Restoration and AVspecs between 2001 and '03. A handful of others remain in museums in China and Korea.
[edit] Variants
Like other aircraft designers at the time, Lavochkin was experimenting with using jet engines to augment performance of piston-engined fighters. One such attempt was La-130R with an RD-1Kh3 liquid fuel rocket engine in addition to the Shvetsov ASh-82FN piston powerplant. The project was cancelled in 1946 before the prototype could be assembled. A more unusual approach was La-9RD which was tested in 1947-1948. It was a production La-9 with a reinforced airframe and armament reduced to two cannons which carried a single RD-13 pulsejet (likely of the German V-1 rocket origin) under each wing. The 70 km/h (45 mph) increase in top speed came at the expense of tremendous noise and vibration. The engines were unreliable and worsened the handling. The project was abandoned although between 3 and 9 La-9RD were reported to perform at airshows, no doubt pleasing the crowds with the noise.
Other notable La-9 variants were:
- La-9UTI - field-modified two-seat trainer version
- La-132 (La-132) - prototype with upgraded Shvetsov M-93 engine. Projected top speed 740 km/h (460 mph) at 6,500 m (21,300 ft). Engine proved a failure and the single prototype was equipped with an experimental Shvetsov ASh-82M instead. The aircraft did not proceed to production.
- La-9M (La-134) - long-range fighter prototype, see Lavochkin La-11
- La-9RD - one La-9 was fitted with two underwing RD-13 auxiliary pulejet engines.
- La-138 - one La-9 was fitted with two underwing PVRD-450 axiliary ramjets engines.
[edit] Operators
[edit] Specifications (La-9)
General characteristics
- Crew: One
- Length: 8.63 m (28 ft 4 in)
- Wingspan: 9.80 m (32 ft 2 in)
- Height: 3.56 m (11 ft 8 in)
- Wing area: 17.6 m² (189 ft²)
- Empty weight: 2,638 kg (5,816 lb)
- Loaded weight: 3,425 kg (7,551 lb)
- Max takeoff weight: 3,676 kg (8,104 lb)
- Powerplant: 1× Shvetsov ASh-82FN air-cooled radial engine with a two-stage supercharger and fuel injection, 1,380 kW (1,850 hp)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 690 km/h (430 mph) at altitude
- Range: 1,735 km (1,082 mi)
- Service ceiling 10,800 m (35,424 ft)
- Rate of climb: 17.7 m/s (3,489 ft/min)
- Wing loading: 195 kg/m² (40 lb/ft²)
- Power/mass: 0.40 kW/kg (0.25 hp/lb)
Armament
- 4x 23 mm Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 cannons, 75 rounds/gun
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
[edit] Bibliography
- Gordon, Yefim. Lavochkin's Piston-Engined Fighters (Red Star Volume 10). Earl Shilton, Leicester, UK: Midland Publishing Ltd., 2003. ISBN 1-85780-151-2.
- Green, William. War Planes of the Second World War, Volume Three: Fighters. London: Macdonald & Co.(Publishers) Ltd., 1961. ISBN 0-356-01447-9.
- Kopenhagen, W (ed.), Das große Flugzeug-Typenbuch (in German). Transpress, 1987, ISBN 3-344-00162-0.
[edit] External links
[edit] See also
Related development
Comparable aircraft
Related lists
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The initial version of this article was based on material from aviation.ru. It has been released under the GFDL by the copyright holder.
