Some foreign countries got their hands at the LaGG-3:
- Finland: During Continuation War (1941-1944), the Finnish Air Force captured a single LaGG-3 of the first series which had to make a wheels-up forced landing on Finnish territory during early 1942. Coded as "Red 33", it was dismantled on 20th May and transported to a repair depot by truck.
As the machine had sustained considerable damage during forced landing, reparations were not complete until 30th June 1944 as it had low priority. This machine received the registration of LG-2 and was assigned to Hävittäjälentolaivue 32, a fighter squadron equipped with the American-built Curtiss Hawk 75A.
On 19th July 1944 the LaGG-3 series 1 made another forced landing at Mensuvaara airfield due to an engine malfunction. It was repaired, but it was damaged again, beyond reparation on 30th August 1944 after the landing gear malfunctioned.
Another single LaGG-3 Series 4th was captured by the Finnish Air Force during Continuation War. It was coded as "Red 29" and made a forced wheels-up landing near Aunus, Karelia in early February 1942. It was later dismantled and sent to repair on 20th May. This machine was the first LaGG-3 to serve with the Finnish Air Force and was assigned to Lentolaivue 32 and, under the registration of LG-1, it was piloted by Warrant Officer V. Ikonen.
The LaGG-3 was intended to be used as an interceptor against the Petlyakov Pe-2 bomber. The first combat took place on 23rd March 1943 when a Pe-2 was chased, but was never caught. Despite many attempts during the Continuation War, the three Finnish LaGG-3 (another one was captured and received the code LG-3) never managed to shot down the Pe-2.
Under normal circumstances only one LaGG was airworthy at a time, so they had to fly alone. The only patrol flight with more than one LaGG took place on 27th October 1943 and they got involved in a dogfight with a Pe-2 bomber and its escort of two MiG-3 fighters, but it ended up without losses for any side.
On 4th November LG-1 had a landing accident, where the pilot left uninjured, but LG-1 was sent for reparations. It was quickly repaired and reassigned to Lentolaivue 32 in early 1944. On 16th February it was involved in an aerial combat against a group of Pe-2 with an escort of two LaGG-3 with LG-1 shooting down one Soviet LaGG-3. After the end of Continuation War on 4th September 1944 an armistice was signed with the Soviet Union and the Finnish LaGG-3 were put in storage. On 1st April 1945 they received new markings, replacing the Finnish blue swastika with white/blue/white roundels. They were scrapped shortly after. - Japan: In the spring of 1942 a Soviet pilot defected with his LaGG-3 Series 8th flying it to Manchukuo and making a wheels-up landing at a field near the town of Chiasmus. As the machine was in need of reparations, these were completed on 27th September and the machine undertook some evaluation flight supervised by Major Yamamoto from the Imperial Japanese Army Air Test Center. Those trials took place at Mutanchiang Air Base, in Manchukuo and the LaGG-3 lacked the lower wheels doors. The original pitot tube was replaced by a Japanese made one and the propeller remained in silver colours with red bands at the tips. The Soviet red stars were replaced by the Japanese Hinomaru.
- Germany: After Operation Barbarossa, the Luftwaffe captured many LaGG-3. Some were used for evaluation and it is known that one appeared at a propaganda movie in 1943. As we couldn't find graphical evidence of this, the colours and registration displayed should be considered as speculative.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov_LaGG-3
2. Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action 163 - LaGG Fighters in Action
3. https://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/lagg3/lagg3.html
No comments:
Post a Comment