[WWII] Lavochkin La-9 Fritz

[Phaelen Bleux]

The last of the series:

Lavochkin La-9 “Fritz”
The final major development of the airframe begun with the LaGG-1 and LaGG-3 (p. W:RT82), the La-9 continued to benefit from the reduction of wooden components, which lightened the airframe allowing for improved fuel capacity and heavier armament. In mock combat, the La-9 fared well against its predecessor the La-7, but remained inferior to the Yak-3 (p. W:RT84) in performance. Although too late for WWII (appearing in 1946), the La-9 was used as a first-line fighter by most Soviet units, and was supplied to the Soviet allies of Romania, China and North Korea. A total of 1,559 aircraft were completed when production ended in 1948.
The La-9 burns 69 gallons of aviation fuel per hour at routine usage. Historical range was 1,077 miles. A full load of fuel and ammo costs $144.

Subassemblies: Medium Fighter chassis +3; Medium Fighter wings +3; 3 retractable wheels +0.
Powertrain: 1,380-kW aerial supercharged HP gasoline engine with 1,380-kW prop and 218-gallon self-sealing fuel tank [Wings and Body], 4,000-kWs battery.
Occ.: 1 CS Body
Cargo: 0 Body

Armor
Body: 3/5
Wheels: 2/3
Pilot: 0/+20 F/B/U

Weaponry:
4xLong Aircraft AC/23mm Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 [Wings:F] (75 rounds per gun).*
*Linked.

Equipment:
Body: Autopilot, navigation instruments, medium radio transmitter and receiver (10-mile).

Statistics:
Size: 28'x32'x12' Payload: 0.87 tons Lwt.: 3.78 tons
Volume: 200 Maint.: 30 hours Cost: $45,023

HT: 8. HPs: 120 Body, 80 each Wing, 12 each Wheel.

aSpeed: 428 aAccel: 11 aDecel: 15 aMR: 4 aSR: 2
Stall Speed: 84 mph.
gSpeed: 306 gAccel: 15 gDecel: 10 gMR: 0.5 gSR: 2
Ground Pressure: Extremely High. No Off-Road Speed.

Design Notes:
Historical wing area was 189 sf. Design loaded weight was increased 2% to the historical. The design purchases 250 rounds for the cannons and 210 gallons of fuel tankage; the historical values are shown above. The design is 1 VSP too large for the airframe. This was handwaved since all other designs in the series are built around the Medium chassis, and Heavy Fighter Wings have too much excess SA. (Light Fighter Wings more closely match historical SA, but the next size up was used for weight and consistency considerations.) Design aSpeed was 421 mph; the historical value has been substituted. Performance calculations were based on historical values for wing area and loaded weight.
Sources differed as to whether the La-9 or the La-11 was first all-metal version. The design treats the La-9 as all-metal.

Variants:
The La-9UTI was a two-seat trainer version. If was armed with a 12.7mm UBS machine gun or a 23mm NS-23 cannon.
The La-9RD and La-138 were experimental prototypes fitted (respectively) with two pulsejet or two ramjet engines mounted under the wings.
The La-11 “Fang” was the last improvement on the airframe. It featured all-metal construction and a 1,394-kW engine. aSpeed 429 mph, loaded weight 8,807 lbs., armed with three 23mm cannons, fuel capacity increased to 290 gallons. It is easily differentiated from the La-9 by the lack of a mid-fuselage air scoop. It was the last piston-engine aircraft designed by Lavochkin, and saw service with North Korea in the Korean War. It continued to be used into the 1960s.