Lavochkin LaGG-3

The Lavochkin LaGG-3 was a fighter aircraft employed by the Soviet Union during World War II. It was developed by the State-owned company Lavochkin from the LaGG-1, which had been designed by Vladimir Gorbunov. It performed its maiden flight on March 28, 1940, entering service on January 22, 1941. Later in the war, it would be developed into the La-5.

The LaGG-3 was massively built, with more than 6,000 aircraft having been produced by 1945. Although they had many shortcomings, the urgent need for new more modern fighters meant that around 300 of them were already in service by the time the Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. During the first two years of the war, the good reputation of the Lavochkin LaGG-3 was due more to its rugged construction and the courage of the pilots than to its design as a fighter.

Technical Characteristics

The LaGG-3 was a single-seat, single-engine monoplane. Its fuselage was almost entirely made of wood. The aircraft was fitted with straight wings mounted low on the fuselage. The wings and their flaps were the only part of the plane which was built with metal alloy. To make it capable of carrying out ground-attack missions, it was equipped with either one 37-mm or a 20-mm gun, six 82-mm rockets, and pylons for two 100-kg bombs. It was powered by one Klimov M-105PF-1, liquid-cooled, 12-cylinder engine, which could deliver 1,240 HP.

Specifications

Type: Fighter Aircraft

Length: 8.9 m

Wingspan: 9.8 m

Wing Area: 17.5 sq. meters

Height: 3.3 m

Maximum Speed: 560 km/h (348 mph)

Range: 650 km (404 miles)

Crew: One

Below, the Lavochkin LaGG-3 in December 1941 in a military airbase east of Moscow.