Lavochkin LaGG-3

History

The piston-engined pursuit fighter LaGG-3 (LaGG in the designation comes from "Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Goudkov") was one of the early successes of Soviet modern aircraft design during World War II. Essentially an upgraded version of the LaGG-1 (with many performance and handling issues with the system itself), the LaGG-3 was a success at a time when the Soviet Union needed a versatile and powerful performer right from the start.

The aircraft appeared in the thousands by the end of the war, but was eventually superseded by a more powerful design in response to changing battlefield needs and lessons learned.

The development of the LaGG-3 series ended with the introduction of the I-301 prototype. Complaints about the original LaGG-1 model centered on poor climb performance and the fact that the controls felt a little out of touch with the pilot's instincts.

The new improved design attempted to address these issues and became the production LaGG-3. Once on the front lines, the LaGG-3 performed admirably, its main mission was to provide escort defenses for its Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik close support aircraft.

The LaGG-3 has proven to be a player with good performance, improved control, and the ability to withstand substantial structural damage before failing. All of these assets proved to be friendly to their pilots, who in turn had a favorable view of the aircraft.

The visual characteristics of the LaGG-3 design were consistent with what was considered a "modern" aircraft at the time. In fact, the LaGG-3 shares some external similarities with the French-built Dewoitine D.520 series of pursuit fighters, with the biggest similarity being the location of the cockpit and long-swept fuselage. The wing is a low-mounted monoplane with the cockpit seating area directly above and behind the mount. The LaGG-3 system is a universally attractive design for increased speed.

Armament consists of a 20mm ShVAK propeller hub cannon and 2 machine guns located above the front of the fuselage, just in front of the cockpit and behind the propellers. This weapon consists of a set of heavy 12.7mm machine guns or a pair of 7.62mm machine guns.

The landing gear is fully retractable (including the tail wheel).

In any case, the LaGG-3 was an overly successful design, considering that the Soviet Union desperately needed capable aircraft to counter the Nazi invasion. That was the case with the LaGG-3, although it was soon discovered that the design was not the complete answer, and new attempts were formulated after about 6,400 were produced.

However, the LaGG-3 was a unique, powerful design popular with pilots and ground crew alike.

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes