Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3, part four

 

The LaGG-3's production was rushed when Germany invaded the USSR on 21st June 1941, therefore, factory production focused on manufacturing as much Series 4 as possible by lowering the quality. As a result the flying characteristics and performance of these LaGG-3s was inferior to those produced before the war. 

On 4th July 1941 the State Defence Committee decided to move many industries past the Ural mountains, well beyond Luftwaffe's bombers range. OKB-301 (the factory where the majority of LaGG-3s were manufactured) was evacuated from Khimky (a suburb in Moscow) to GAZ-21 in Niznhy-Novgorod on the Volga river during Autumn 1941. The manufacturing plants of GAZ-301, which were repurposed to manufacture the Yakovlev Yak-7, were transferred to Novosibirsk and mixed with the State Aircraft Factory 153. GAZ-31 which before the Russian Civil War was a subsidiary of Lebedev and Maritime Aircraft Production Facility were dismantled at Taganrog on the Sea of Azov and shipped to the Caucasus to Tiblisi, the capital city of Georgia. Much to the north, in Leningrad, at GAZ-23 production came to an end in September 1941 with only 65 aircraft completed due to the Axis encirclement of the city.

During early 1942 the Series 11 was increasingly used in the low-level close-support and ground-attack roles, where its hardiness was appreciated. During the Battle of Moscow on the Kalinin Front the LaGG-3 saw a lot of action in this role during late 1941 and early 1942. The 129th Fighter Aviation Regiment, equipped with LaGG-3 fighters, was awarded the Guards status for their actions, becoming, on 6th December 1941, the 5th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. 

Regarding the next major series, 23rd ones, in early 1942 it was obvious that the LaGG-3 was inferior to the Yakovlev Yak-1 and Yak-7 due to its superior performance and easiness to manufacture thanks to its Delta-Wood structure. Therefore the Commissariat of the People for Aviation Industry (NKAP) ordered GAZ-153 to reconvert from LaGG-3 to Yak-7. At that time GAZ-153 had produced just 330 LaGG-3s. GAZ-21 converted to produce the Lavochkin La-5 during autumn 1942 and for a while both types, LaGG-3 and La-5 were being produced at the factory, making GAZ-31 the only factory building LaGG-3 fighters. During 1942 alone a total of 2.771 LaGG-3 were manufactured, more than any other year the LaGG-3 was in production. 

The Series 35 were produced from August 1942 until spring 1943 at GAZ-31 which was the sole factory producing LaGG-3s in 1943. Regarded as obsolete by the NKAP in early 1942, production continued until the factory was repurposed to built another more modern fighter.

The most successful series of the LaGG-3, series 66, was tested by the Scientific Research Institute of the Soviet Air Force at Sverdlovsk, East of the Urals and it was clear that it was superior in performance to any previous LaGG-3 type. It was, however, slower and worse armed than the German Messerschmitt Bf.109F and G types, which at the time, were its main antagonist. 

Its production began in Spring 1943 and ended in September with more than 6.528 LaGG-3 of every series being made. The State Aircraft Factory in Tiblisi, the main manufacturer of the LaGG-3 Series 66, made 1.294 machines.

The Series 66 was involved during April and May 1943 in the Battle of Kuban at the North Caucasus, taking part in one of the major aerial battles of the Eastern Front. The 88th Fighter Aviation Regiment, fully equipped with LaGG-3 Series 66 and raised with funds of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, took part in that battle.

The Series 66 was kept in active service well until 1944 with various VVS (Soviet Air Force) units. One such unit was 9th Fighter Aviation Regiment, which operated the type in the Novorossijsk region during spring 1944. In May that unit was transferred to the Baltic Fleet as part of the 11th Ground Attack Division and took part in the Battles for Karelian Isthmus during June 1944 making it the last operational theatre the LaGG-3 was employed on.

Sources:

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

4. https://www.valka.cz/Lavockin-LaGG-3-t41330

Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3, part three

 

The LaGG-3's production varied from series to series. In the last post we wrote about the Series 1, the first mass produced batch. 

This series was followed by the Series 4, which had many improvements. The engine-mounted Berezin machine gun was replaced with a 20 mm ShVAK cannon. The starboard machine gun was deleted, it had a taller antenna mast, enlarged wing root intakes and an enlarged oil cooler intake. 

This series was powered by a 1.200 hp Klimov M-105PA engine and during 1941 alone 2.463 LaGG-3s were manufactured, with 2.141 built after the factories were relocated east of the Urals because of the German invasion. The counterweight at the bottom of the rudder present in the Series 1, was deleted. In order to try and improve the performance, both fuel capacity and range were reduced.

This series was followed by series 8 which reduced the armament by deleting the two cowl-mounted ShKAS machine guns and standardizing the ShVAK cannon and one Berezin machine gun. The ShKAS machine guns were removed because they were considered extra dead weight as the 7.62 mm caliber weapons only caused minor damage to control surfaces, oil coolers and radiators of enemy aircraft. As the ShVAK cannons were not available everywhere, some aircraft had the VYa-23 23 mm cannon instead.

The series 11 was identical to the series 8 with the exception that it was modified as a ground attack aircraft. It was equipped with two wing-mounted D3-40 bomb racks and six RO-82 launch rails for RS-82 or RS-123 rockets. The bomb racks allowed a 50 kg (110 lb) such as the FAB-50 or additional fuel tanks. Like many other Soviet aircraft of the time, its landing gear could also be replaced with skies to be used during winter, but this decreased performance.

The series 23 introduced a minor modification to the rudder. It had an aerodynamic horn balance in front of the hinge line at the top. 

The series 29 were powered by a Klimov M-105PF engine rated at 1.260 hp. The difference between PA and PF engines was that PA engine was rated at 4.000 m (13.123 ft) while the PF was rated at 2.700 m (8.858 ft) as the majority of aerial combat of the eastern front took place at altitudes below 2.700 m. Exhaust collector tube present in previous series was also deleted and replaced by three exhaust ports. This variant was also equipped with better RSI-4 radio gear. All those small improvements increased the LaGG-3's top speed by 31 km/h (19 mph) with a better rate of climb.

The Series 33 had just a minor upgrade as they only replaced the propeller with a new more modern one.

Series 34 was built in limited numbers and replaced the 20 mm ShVAK cannon with a 37 mm Nudelman-Suranov NS-37 with only 20 rounds of ammo. It was intended to be an anti-tank variant and as such was introduced during the Battle of Stalingrad. However it failed as the extra weight of the cannon shifted the centre of balance forward and the recoil damaged the engine.

The series 35 was basically a series 33 with automatic leading-edge slats on the outer wings to improve handling. It was also equipped with a retractable tail wheel and an enlarged radiator. The retractable tail wheel was, however, retrofitted to some older models.

The series 66 was the last mass-produced variant before production lines were switched to the Lavochkin La-5. The series 66 had four exhaust stacks, short antenna, new windscreen, reshaped radiator and a reshaped oil cooler. This variant was the fastest of the LaGG-3 at 591 km/h (367 mph) and thanks to its lighter weight, it had the best maneuverability and climb rate of all LaGG-3s, however, it arrived late in the eastern front (1943) and was outperformed by the Yakovlev fighters and German aircraft such as the Messerschmitt Bf.109F & G and the Focke-Wulf Fw.190. 

 

Sources:

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

4. https://www.valka.cz/Lavockin-LaGG-3-t41330

Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3, part two.

 

The prototype of the LaGG-3 was called I-301 and was designed by Semyon A. Lavochkin, Vladimir P. Gorbunov and Mikhail I. Gudkov. That prototype was renamed to LaGG-1 (to which we dedicated an entire post, not very long ago, check it out by clicking here ) and production machines were named LaGG-3. 
The prototype was completed at the GAZ-301 factory, North-West of Moscow and the design was approved for production in January 1940. The I-301 was a single-seat, low-wing monoplane with a semi-monocoque fuselage and skinned with birch veneer and plywood. On 14th June it was accepted for trials and it achieved the speed of 510 km/h (320 mph) with a climb to 5.000 m (16.400 ft) in 5.85 minutes. Later, it achieved the speed of 604 km/h with its radiator doors closed, making it the fastest M-105P powered aircraft.

The first series commenced on 29th June 1940 and its production progressed slowly as there were teething problems with the aircraft due to an untrained workforce with no previous experience in aircraft manufacturing (GAZ factory had manufactured tanks and cars to that date). The lack of knowledge with the delta wood structure (the main material of the fuselage), incomplete technical drawings, lack of jigs and the fact that some factories didn't complete the transition from manufacturing the Polikarpov I-16 and I-153 to the LaGG-3 were the cause of those problems. The Series 1 differed from the prototypes in having a strengthened landing gear, 10 mm seat armour, enlarged carburetor air intake and were armed with two 12,7 mm Berezin UBS machine gun and two 7.62 mm ShKAS machine guns. Some machines were fitted with a radio transmitter/receiver device, which were allocated to flight leader aircrafts only, while the other aircraft had either one receiver or no radio at all. 

In order to balance the mass, weights were added above and below the rudder to eliminate control surface flutter. The LaGG-3 had also an unique fire suppression system which collected exhaust using a tube on the port side of the exhaust manifold that ran to a condenser, where the gasses were cooled and pumped into the empty fuel tanks. 

This first series was powered by a Klimov M-105P engine which yielded 1.100 hp of power and was equipped with a centrifugal two-speed two-stage supercharger. Given the additional equipment, the Series 1 aircraft was heavier than the prototype, which had a negative impact in overall performance. Therefore the LaGG-3 was slow, with a top speed of 549 km/h (341 mph) at 5.000 m (16.500 ft) high and it had also a considerably slower rate of climb. It also required a longer take-off run.

As the production process was very slow, it wasn't until spring 1941 that initial conversion training for Fighter Aviation Regiments based in Soviet Asia began. This training required time and great effort. Those Aviation Regiments were chosen in order to reinforce the Soviet-Manchurian border as both Japan and the USSR had clashed in 1939 (see the Battles of Khalkin-Gol or Nomohan Incident). During training, as most Soviet pilots were used to flight the extremely maneuverable Polikarpov I-152, the Series 1 as unforgiving and unmaneuverable as it was, it was very unpopular. Mechanically speaking, also suffered a lot with mechanical failures such as landing gear not deploying, guns not firing or brakes not working, were the rule, forcing many machines to be back into factories for reparations. Those teething problems were ordered to be fixed on 31st May 1941 by the People's Commissariat for Aircraft Industry. 

When Operation Barbarossa was launched on 21st June 1941 there were only 322 LaGG-3 of the Series 1 available. None of them clashed with the Luftwaffe as they were all stationed in the Far East. Most of the LaGG-3 remained in Asia until summer when it was clear that Japan would honor the neutrality pact signed with the USSR. 

The LaGG-3's existence was kept in secret, specially for Germany which, although they knew the VVS (Red Air Force) was equipping a new fighter, they ignored its characteristics. 

During combat patrols, many pilots flew with the canopy open, and some of them even removed it entirely. This was done because it couldn't be jettisoned and its poor-quality plexiglass was almost opaque. 

When LaGG-3 pilots met their enemies for the first time, they lacked training and initiative and most leaders were unable to command their units, so when they were shot down, the rest of the flight, usually, continued to fly in formation without changing direction until them all were shot down. 

Some pilots, however, managed to fully control the LaGG-3. For instance, Captain V.I. Popkov, who would eventually be a VVS ace, scored his initial victories with the LaGG-3 Series 1. 

When operating from unprepared fields, the lower landing gear doors were removed, in order to keep mud from building up on the landing gear.

The Series 1 kept operating on the main frontlines until 1942 when they were sent to more secondary frontlines like the Finnish ones. 

There was also an anti-tank specialized version. This was called Gudkov K-37 and was equipped with a 37 mm Shpitalny Sh-37 axial cannon firing through the propeller hub. Twenty were built in summer 1942 and served with the 42nd IAP (Fighter Aircraft Regiment). This machine proved it could shot down an enemy fighter with a single shot, but it could barely damage enemy tanks. 

Sources:

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

Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3, part one. Foreign users

 

The Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3 was a Soviet fighter aircraft of the World War 2 which was an improved version of the previous Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-1. It was one of the most modern fighters available for the VVS (Soviet Air Force) at the time of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, together with the Yakovlev Yak-1.

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. 

Sources:

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