Supermarine Spitfire. European Users, part one. Belgium.

 

The Supermarine Spitfire was also employed by Nos. 349 and 350 squadrons, composed by Belgians during World War 2.

• No. 349 Squadron: This unit switched their Curtiss Tomahawk for Spitfires Mk.V-s in June 1943 and was rebased to southern England to take part in bomber escort duties and fighter sweeps over mainland Europe. The squadron took part in Operation Overlord and kept the same role, escorting bombers and providing some ground support. In August 1944 the unit was rebased to France performing armed reconnaissance missions. 
  In February 1945 they returned to England to be re-equipped with the Hawker Tempest, however, the pilots did not appreciate the aircraft and opted for the Spitfire Mk.IX instead. They were rebased to the Netherlands and finally to Belgium, where it was transferred to the Belgian Air Force on 24th October 1946. 
  Once in Belgian command (renamed as '349e Escadrille') it was equipped with the Spitfire Mk.XIV. 
  
• No.350 Squadron: This formation acquired the Spitfire Mk.II in November 1941 and shortly later, in February 1942 they transitioned to the Mk.V and were assigned to convoy protection duties over the Irish Sea. In April 1942 they were relocated to south-east England where they carried out many offensive sweeps over occupied France. They took part in Operation Overlord and, in August 1944 they engaged many V-1 flying bombs attacking England. The squadron was rebased to Belgium in December 1944, where it remained until the end of the war. 
  On 15th October 1946 it was transferred to the Belgian Air Force, was renamed to 350e Escadrille, and kept their Spitfire Mk.XIV until July 1949 when they were replaced by the Gloster Meteor. 
  

Aside from those two squadrons, the École de Pilotage Avancée (Advanced Flying School) also employed the Spitfire Mk.IX. Those were supplied from RAF surplus stockpiles in August 1947 when 28 machines were ordered, followed by 18 second-hand more, as attrition was taking a toll on the Mk.IX-s. 
In 1952 a demonstration team was created for a short period of time but an unfortunate accident led to the disbandment of that unit. They were gradually written off and acquired by Cogea Nouvelle of Oostende which used them as target tugs. Most of them survived and were used for filming, some of them appearing in the 1969 movie Battle of Britain.

Sources:
1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/349th_Squadron_(Belgium)
2nd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/350th_Squadron_(Belgium)
3rd https://www.belgian-wings.be/supermarine-spitfire-lf-ixc-e

Lavochkin La-5 In Soviet Service. Part four.

 

In the summer of 1943 a two-seater variant of the La-5F was adapted by the Lavochkin Design Bureau. The La-5UTI (which stands for 'Fighter-Trainer' in Russian) was a simple adaptation of the single seat La-5F with a second cockpit placed just aft the radio bay. Instructor's cockpit was equipped with duplicate flight controls and the front cockpit ones (where the pupil sat) were automatically disconnected every time the instructor took control. Both cockpits were fully enclosed by sliding canopies. 
Given its non-combatant role, the La-5UTI lacked many features when compared to the fighter, as many were deleted to save weight. Armor glasses behind windscreen, pilot's head and the back seat were eliminated, as well as the wing fuel tank fire suppression system. The small cockpit air inlets in front of the canopy, present at both the La-5F and La-5FN were also deleted.
The La-5UTI also lacked oxygen equipment and, initial versions also lacked RSI-4 radio, hence the absence of radio mast and tail stub. Given the irruption of the second cockpit, the La-5UTI fuel capacity was also lower.
The La-5UTI was armed with a single 20 mm ShVAK cannon fitted into the port side on the nose, however both cannon ports and breech fairings, present on the La-5 were retained. The cannons were sighted with the standard PBP-1B sight. Any bomb-carrying equipment was also deleted. As a result the trainer variant's take-off weight was nearly identical to that of the La-5F single-seat fighter.

The La-5UTI prototype was tested at the Scientific Research Institute between 3rd and 30th September 1943 and showed performance and handling characteristics similar to those of the La-5F. 
Both the UTI prototype and initial batches were equipped with an aft-sliding rear canopy with a squared off rear frame, however in later batches the rear canopy was redesigned with the rear frame slanted to the rear, providing better visibility for the instructor in the rear cockpit. Early UTIs also lacked an external grab handle on the port side of the rear canopy, but it was fixed on every later aircraft.
The La-5UTI was powered by the same ASh-82F engine that powered the La-5F, however, when State Aircraft Factories switched production to the La-5FN, the UTIs switched also to the ASh-82FN engine, which were also equipped with the RSI-4 radio system. 
La-5UTI was manufactured from 1943 well after La-5FN production ceased at the State Aircraft Factories. Many La-5UTIs also served with La-7 equipped fighter regiments because the La-7UTI did not become operational until the spring of 1946 and, since the La-7UTI was only made in limited numbers, the La-5UTI remained as the standard trainer for both La-5 and La-7 pilots.
An unknown number of either La-5, La-5F and La-5FN were converted to La-5UTI trainers at special maintenance facilities of the VVS (Soviet Air Force). Those aircraft held most of the attributes of the the factory-built UTIs, including the original engines.  Those UTIs had also their armour removed, while some managed to keep their RSI-4 radios, albeit without radio masts with the wire running from the fin to the fuselage centreline behind the canopy. 

Sources:

1st Signal Squadron - Aircraft In Action 169 - La5-7 Fighters in Action

2nd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavochkin_La-5

Lavochkin La-5 In Soviet Service. Part three.

 

The Lavochkin La-5FN was a variant of the regular La-5F with a fuel injected engine, a supercharger air intake, a revised exhaust flap and better radio antennas. 

The first exemplar of the La-5FN rolled out of State Aircraft Factory No.21 in March 1943, together when the first La-5Fs were being delivered to various fighter aviation regiments of the Soviet Air Force (VVS) and the Soviet and the National Air Defence Forces (PVO), that is why it is considered as a parallel development instead of its successor. 
The La-5FN was powered by an 1850 hp ASh-82FN engine that yielded almost 150 more horsepower than the ASh-82F, as the ASh-82FN was an improvement of the ASh-82F. Some late production La-5FN were powered by the ASh-82FNV engine which was still rated at 1850 hp but was optimized for higher altitudes. 
Production variants of the La-5FN differed from those of the La-5F in two ways. First, the La-5FN had a long supercharger intake trunk on top of the cowl and second, the exhaust flaps were split into seven separate outlets on each side of the fuselage, in a similar arrangement to that of the German BMW 801 engine employed on the Focke-Wulf Fw.190A. Those outlets were covered by a single flat plate. 
Another additional improvement made on production La-5FNs was the inclusion of an additional duralumin side panel under the cockpit, however, those were not present at the La-5FN prototype.
The radio antenna arrangement was also revised and, although initially it was a copy of the one present at the regular La-5F, it was changed in mid production variants. However, that configuration proved to be problematic and many pilots and mechanics reverted to the original La-5's arrangement. In the late batches the antennas were revised further and the masts were deleted with the cable running straight into the rear canopy glazing.
Most of the La-5FN also received thicker armoured glass. 
In April 1943 the La-5FN was tested against a regular La-5F at the Scientific Research Institute in Sverdlovsk with great results overall. It was faster than the La-5F at every altitude and it had better climb rate with the same armament; two nose mounted 20 mm ShVAK cannons and it had provision for up to 100 kg (220 lbs) of bombs under each wing. 

The La-5FN was the first fighter made by Lavochkin Design Bureau that could equal the Messerschmitt Bf.109G-6 in terms of performance, specially at top speed. It was, however, slower than the Focke-Wulf Fw.190A-3.
In April 1943 various mock combat duels were carried out a Lyubertsi Air Base (Moscow) between a pre-production La-5FN and a captured Messerschmitt Bf.109G-2. Those tests showed that the La-5FN was faster than the Bf.109G-2 at low and medium altitudes, where most aerial combat took place on the Eastern Front. Besides, the La-5FN could manoeuvre differently in the vertical plane, further helping proper combat tactics against German fighters.
Production batches varied depending on the availability of the raw materials and craftmanship due to war shortages. 

The La-5FN saw combat for the first time during Operation Citadel, the offensive on Kursk in July 1943. The arrival of the La-5FN to the frontline, proved problematic to both Luftflottes 4 and 6 as they heavily committed to provide close aerial support to German forces around Kursk. The fourteen La-5FN of the 32nd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment took part in 25 aerial engagements during summer 1943 and claimed 33 German aircraft, 21 of which Focke-Wulf Fw.190As and three Bf.109Gs.
Soviet top ace, Major Ivan N. Kozhedub scored his first kills flying a La-5 and later a La-5FN during the Battle of Kursk. Later, during the Soviet offensive on the Dnieper in December 1943, Kozhedub scored an additional eleven victories in just ten days. 
Later, in 1944 he shot down eight more German aircraft in just one week flying over Romania. He was, together with Aleksandr I. Pokryshkin, awarded the title of 'Hero of the Soviet Union', they were the only pilots awarded with that title. 

During 1943 a total of 5048 La-5F and La-5FN were manufactured by four State Aircraft Factories in the USSR. Most of them, 91%, were produced at GAZ-21 factory in Nizhny-Novgorod. GAZ-381 in Yaroslav produced 240 with 184 La-5F and La-5FN were assembled at GAZ-99 at Ulan Ude. Only 5 aircraft were produced at GAZ-31 in Tbilisi. 
Production decreased during 1944 with 3826 La-5FNs manufactured at State Aircraft Factories in Nizhny-Novgorod, Yaroslav and Ulan Ude. Production decreased as it was switched to the new Lavochkin La-7 in April 1944. However both La-5FN and the La-7 were produced in parallel until the La-5FN production was discontinued in November 1944. By then a total of 9920 La-5 in every variant had been produced.
After the war the La-5FN was gradually replaced by either the better La-7 or a jet fighter as they were beginning to overtake propeller fighters. However its main reason was related to the speed at which they were manufactured. The wooden airframe was not designed to last for a long time as it was developed in conditions of total war and its calculated combat life was shorter than its mechanical life, hence La-5's wooden components were not treated with chemicals designed to inhibit rot, so wood fungi and rot began to damage the wooden parts of the aircraft redeeming them unsafe to fly over a long period of time. 

Sources:

1st Signal Squadron - Aircraft In Action 169 - La5-7 Fighters in Action

2nd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavochkin_La-5

Lavochkin La-5 In Soviet Service. Part two.

 

The Lavochkin La-5F got its name from the ASh-82F engine, where the letter 'F' stands for 'boosted' in Russian. This engine , initially denominated as ASh-82A, was considered as an interim powerplant for the La-5 as it was considered as 'immature' as it suffered from overheating, so attempts to fix that problem, resulted in the ASh-82F. 
The new radial engine yielded better theoretical results than its predecessor, so the first ASh-82F-equipped La-5 rolled out from the factories in December 1942, as some very late production La-5s were fitted with the new ASh-82F engine. 
The La-5F, however, had many more characteristics apart from the new engine. It had an entirely new canopy design which allowed for a 360º view (something that the La-5 lacked) with its subsequent cut in the rear fuselage decking.
The cockpit was equipped with a 66 mm (2.5 inch) thick armoured glass panel to protect pilot's head and shoulders. The windscreen was also redesigned to include a horizontal frame on top. This change was initially made in the La-5 in order to include a 55 mm (2.1 inch) thick armoured glass panel. A rear view mirror was also added, however most of the pilots removed it. 
The La-5F was equipped with a better gun-aiming system, better cockpit ventilation and, although the initial batches were equipped with the same radio system the La-5 had, the radio system was also improved gradually with the new batches, resulting in various antenna mast and aerials configurations throughout the manufacture process. 
The fuel tank arrangement was also revised in order to make the aircraft lighter, to match its performance to that of the German Messerschmitt Bf.109G.
The first La-5F rolled out from State Aircraft Factory 21 at Nizhny-Novgorod in March 1943 and in April one La-5F was tested at the Soviet Air Force's Scientific Research Institute in Sverdlovsk. Those tests showed that La-5F's top speed was only 10 km/h (6.2 mph) better than the one of the La-5 but it had much better climb rate. 
The La-5F served mainly with the Fighter Aviation Regiments (IAP for Russian terminology) of both the Soviet Air Force (VVS) in the Eastern Front, and the Fighter Aviation Regiments of the National Air Defence Forces (PVO). The units of the PVO were assigned to defend the aerial space of major Soviet cities and industrial centres. 
During World War 2, USAAF's 8th and 15th Air Forces carried out various ferry bombing raids against Germany from Soviet territory, the first of which took place on 2nd June 1944 when 128 Boeing B-17 bombers and their escort took off from Italy, bombed the railroad marshalling yards in Debrecen, Hungary and landed at Poltava and Myrhorod, in the Ukrainian SSR. The aerial escort over Soviet air space was provided by the 210th Fighter Aviation Division of the PVO, with most of its IAPs being equipped with the La-5F. 
On 21st June 1944 USAAF's 3rd Air Division bombed the synthetic oil plant at Ruhland, Germany, while enroute to Poltava. In retaliation the Luftwaffe attacked Poltava shortly after midnight with a force of eighty Junkers Ju.88 and Heinkel He.111 destroying fourty-four out of 72 B-17s and damaging the remaining ones. No Soviet fighters engaged the attacking force and this grew some tensions between the Americans and the Soviets about shuttle bombing operations, although they continued until September 1944.

Sources:

1st Signal Squadron - Aircraft In Action 169 - La5-7 Fighters in Action

2nd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavochkin_La-5

Lavochkin La-5 In Soviet Service. Part one.

 

The Lavochkin La-5 was a Soviet fighter aircraft of the World War 2 which was itself an improvement from the previous LaGG-1 and LaGG-3. 
The LaGG-1 was underpowered and the LaGG-3, couldn't overcome that lack of power, in spite of its lighter airframe and stronger engine, so in early 1942, LaGG-3 factories were converted to manufacture the Yakovlev Yak-1 and Yak-7. 

In late 1941 Lavochkin worked unofficially to improve the LaGG-3. The work centred mainly in replacing the underpowered Klimov M-105 inline engine of the LaGG-3 with a stronger Shvetsov ASh-82 radial engine. The nose section was replaced with one taken from a Sukhoi Su-2, as the Su-2 was also powered by the Shvetsov engine. 
The new engine required a shift in aircraft's balance and some other fittings but by December 1941 it was completed. However, ground testing showed several problems with the new engine so its maiden flight was delayed and it wasn't until March 1942 took off with Aleksei I. Nikashin, a highly experienced pilot of the Soviet Air Force Scientific Research, at the commands. 
The prototype showed good flying characteristics, although it didn't completely overcome the flaws present at the LaGG-3. Therefore, many detail improvements were made before the La-5 prototype was passed to Scientific Research Institute for state acceptance trials in April 1942.
Overall, in the evaluation made by the Scientific Research Institute, the radial engine-powered La-5 demonstrated its superiority over the LaGG-3 and they considered that it had potential to be an excellent fighter, at least for VVS' (Soviet Air Force) standards of the time. Trials were carried out in less than a month and the aircraft was given green light for mass production by the People's Commissariat for Aviation Industry (NKAP), beginning mass production in July 1942. At first the new fighter was called 'LaG-5' but since Mikhail Gudkov, one of the original designers of the LaGG-3 was no longer involved in the programme, both letter Gs were dropped, although Gorbunov was still involved.
However, since there were doubts about La-5's empirical performance at the battlefields, for a time both LaGG-3 and the La-5 were manufactured alongside each other at the State Aircraft Factories, so new features and improvements were introduced in both types.

The first production batch of the La-5 was basically a LaGG-3 with the ASh-82A engine and many inherited features, such as the widescreen, canopy or pitot tubes, which were improved upon the war was going on. 
The main differences between the prototype and the production series were the inclusion of armament (two 20 mm ShVAK cannons mounted in the forward fuselage), which also required the adaptation of enlarged breech gun covers on the nose, plus some added fairing, an ASh-82A engine, as already mentioned and an enlarged oil cooler, situated below the engine. It could also carry up to 50 kg (110 lb) of bombs in underwing racks, although very few La-5s were equipped with underwing racks. It was also equipped with radio system, although not in every aircraft. 
The Central Aerodynamic Institute (TsAGI) tested the first branches of the La-5 against the prototype and found a considerable loss of speed, mainly due to the poor coupling of the engine to the fuselage, given wartime shortages in the factories. This problem was addressed over the time. 

The first La-5 were assigned to VVS' Fighter Regiments (the Soviet equivalent to a squadron sized unit) in the fall of 1942, although in August it seems that some few of had the type in their ranks. The main foe of the La-5 at the time of its introduction was the German Messerschmitt Bf.109G-2 which was superior to the La-5 in every aspect as checked after having captured on in the Stalingrad area. 
Anyway, most Soviet fighter pilots, used to fly the MiG-3, the LaGG-3 or even the Polikarpov I-16 were quickly accustomed to their new fighter and were pleased by the performance improvement. Ground crews were also satisfied as it was easier to maintain and, therefore, to enhance La-5's service rate.
The La-5 saw action during major Soviet battle from the fall of 1942 to the summer of 1943 when it was gradually replaced by more advanced variants of the type, although some remained in service until well entered 1944. 
The first produced La-5s were deployed straight from production lines to the Stalingrad area and the La-5 was also deployed in the Kuban area fighting Luftwaffe's Luftflotte 4 over the North Caucasus during that campaign that took place between April and May 1943. 
The La-5 was also widely employed in July 1943 at the Battle of Kursk. It was during the course of this battle that Ivan N. Kozhedub, later to be USSR's top ace, made his combat debut in a La-5. 
One La-5 was captured by the Germans on 30th July 1942 when Lt. Col. Nikolai Vlasov flew made an emergency landing at Larisov airfield, near Ostrov in Pskov, while a second La-5, belonging to the famous Valery Chkalov squadron was also captured and tested at the Rechlin Test Centre. 
During the whole year of 1942 a total of 1.129 La-5 were manufactured at State Aircraft Factory 21 in Nizhny-Novgorod, while State Aircraft Factory 31 at Tblisi built additional 22 machines. In comparison a total of 2.771 LaGG-3 were built during that same year. 
This was because the La-5 was regarded as an interim step to adopt the M-82/ASh-82A radial engines without disrupting production lines. This gave Lavochkin Design Bureau enough time to develop a more sophisticated variant of the La-5 eliminating the lack of backward visibility and its short range. The last Shvetsov M-82F powered La-5s were delivered in early 1943.

Sources:
1st Signal Squadron - Aircraft In Action 169 - La5-7 Fighters in Action
2nd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavochkin_La-5

Lavochkin La-5, Czechoslovak users

 

The Lavochkin La-5 was also employed by Czechoslovakia. The first Czech unit to be equipped with the La-5 was the 1st Czechoslovak Fighter Regiment (1st CS.IAP) of the Soviet Air Force (VVS) which was formed in late May 1944 in Moscow, by former RAF Czechoslovak pilots. 
The 1st CS.IAP was formed at Ivanovo and Kubinka air bases, and, after taking some formation with the La-5UTI (the two-seater trainer variant of the La-5) by June 1944 it was declared as combat ready. 
During the Slovak National Uprising, Jan Golian (leader of the Slovak rebels) asked the USSR for help, so the VVS sent the 1st CS.IAP which was stationed at Proskurov airfield, near Lviv, in the Ukrainian SSR. On 17th September 1944 they were rebased to Zolna airfield and, by 18th September they were already in action as they attacked the Luftwaffe base in Piest'any (Bratislava) destroying various enemy fighters. Shortly later, on the 20th they also attacked the Malacky-Novy-Dvor air base destroying more Luftwaffe aircraft to prevent them from intercepting American bombers of the 15th Air Force. Those attacks took the Germans by surprise, so they had to move both Schlachtgeschwader 77 and Jagdgeschwader 52 from southern Poland and Hungary respectively to fight against 1st CS.IAP.  During the Slovak National Uprising they provided aerial support by attacking German artillery positions and strafing ground troops, having to overcome the unsuitability of the La-5FN for the ground support as it lacked armour. 
When the uprising failed and the Germans retook the Slovak land, the 1st CS.IAP escaped back to Soviet lines. It was during this period that the unit flew a total of 573 sorties and destroyed 13 enemy aircraft with ten casualties. 
The unit was transferred to the newly created 1st Czechoslovak Independent Combined Air Division on 25th January 1945 and it served during the Soviet advances in southern Poland and Czechoslovakia providing aerial support to the 4th Ukrainian Front. 
After spending some time at Przemysl airfield the 1st CS.IAP was transferred to Poremba airfield from where they took off in their last mission escorting a formation of eight Il-2 Shturmovik attack planes bombing the village of Olza, in southern Poland. 
There was a second Czechoslovak Fighter Regiment undergoing training, but the war in Europe ended before their training could be completed. 

After the war, the Czechoslovak Air Force (CAF) was re-founded with, among many others, 31 La-5FN and La-5UTI fighters and trainers respectively, making Czechoslovakia, the only foreign user of the La-5.
The La-5FN was designated as 'S-95' in CAF service and the type had to be constantly overhauled as they were phased out in the USSR back in 1945. In July 1946 a group of Soviet specialists declared all but two La-5 non-airworthy and directed the fighters to be scrapped, discarding the order for an additional force of 60 La-7 (the successor of the La-5) to be delivered. 
After a further inspection by the CAF and the Czechoslovak Scientific Aviation Institute,  the La-5 were declared mostly flyable, except for aerobatics purposes. However, on static tests carried out on both La-5FN and  La-5UTIs, the wooden parts showed signs of exhaustion and so, every La plane was grounded on 13th December 1946.
Anyway, after further inspection, it turned out that the wooden airframe and other parts, were already counted in their calculations, so, during 1947 the La-5 was admitted again into the CAF. By 1st July 1948 the CAF had 23 La-5FN and LA-5UTI in strength but, by late 1948 the type was already being withdrawn from service. 
The last official unit to employ the La-5FN and La-5UTI was the Bezpecnostní letectvo, the aerial branch of the SNB (Czechoslovak National Police which existed from 1945 to 1991). 

Sources:

1st Signal Squadron - Aircraft In Action 169 - La5-7 Fighters in Action
2nd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Czechoslovak_Fighter_Air_Regiment

3rd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sbor_národní_bezpečnosti 

4th https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezpečnostní_letectvo (translated)

Lavochkin La-5, Various users

 

The Lavochkin La-5 was a Soviet fighter aircraft from the World War 2 which was a development of the earlier LaGG-3. It was one of the most capable Soviet designs of the time and as such, it was used also by the following users:

• Germany: One La-5 was captured by the Germans on 30th July 1942 when Lt. Col. Nikolai Vlasov flew made an emergency landing at Larisov airfield, near Ostrov in Pskov, while a second La-5, belonging to the famous Valery Chkalov squadron was also captured and tested at the Rechlin Test Centre.  As we couldn't find graphical evidence about any of these, the profile shown below should be considered as speculative. 
  The Luftwaffe managed to capture a La-5F somewhere in Ukraine in 1943, and at least two La-5FN at the Gross-Schimanen airfield in East Prusia. One of those FN was captured in September 1944 and was tested extensively at Rechlin Test Centre. Despite showing inferior performance due to a long service record on the Eastern Front of the captured machines, (they were generally slower than the ones tested at the USSR by the Soviet Air Force -VVS-) the Germans felt that the aircraft showed good flying characteristics in every stage of flight with some exception at the diving phase, when the controls showed some stiffness. 
  Additional testing also showed that it was an excellent lo-to-medium dogfighter, particularly at the style of combat present at the Eastern Front and, furthermore, it had a better climb rate than the majority of German fighters up to 3.000 m (9842 ft). 
  The previous model, the La-5F, was captured, as stated previously, in 1943 in Ukraine, after a Soviet pilot made a forced landing on a German airfield and was tested by one of Luftwaffe's test pilots, Hans-Werner Lerche. 
• Poland: Poland got a single La-5FN in 1945 after the war when the Air Force of the Polish Army considered for a brief period of time about equipping some fighter aviation regiments with the La-5FN, so they received a single La-5FN to be flight tested, painted in Polish markings. However, the proposal was discarded soon as the Yakovlev Yak-9P was picked as the backbone for the Polish fighter aviation and, therefore, no flight testing were carried out with the single La-5FN, which is believed to be have been scrapped in 1949.
  

Sources:

1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavochkin_La-5
2nd Signal Squadron - Aircraft In Action 169 - La5-7 Fighters in Action
3rd https://www.asisbiz.com/il2/La-5/pages/Lavochkin-La-5F-captured-by-German-Forces-01.html