| Lavochkin La-9 | |
Лавочкин Ла-9
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| The Lavochkin La-9 was the most powerful of
the Lavochkin piston fighters, (armament + powerplant). Development of the Lavochkin La-9 began in
1945. It was a follow-through of the La-7 which was a proven fighter at the
time. The La-9 was redesigned with all structure being metal (as opposed to
some of the wooden structure the La-7 carried). The removal of the wooden
structure helped to lighten up the aircraft enough so that the aircraft
could be fitted to carry substantially greater quantities of fuel and still
be not much heavier than the La-7. The fuel capacity was increased to 825
liters and had an increased endurance of 4 hours 30 min. The wings were
slightly more cut-off at the tips instead of the more elliptical tips of the
previous fighters. Production tests began in June and finished in
October, 1946. The three (or two) 20mm cannons of the La-7 were
replaced with four 23mm cannons, (reduced back to 3 23mm cannons in the La-11). One of the features the La-9 incorporated was the ducting of exhaust gas from the engine, through the fuse, where it was filtered and then pumped into the wings as inert gas. The point of the this was to force out the fuel vapors as to minimize the chance of explosion during a crash or bullet damage in combat. It also served to maintain fuel pressure. |
| Lavochkin La-9 | |
| Powerplant | 1380kW (1850hp) M-82FN (Ash-82FN) 14-cylinder radial engine |
| Max Speed | 690km/h |
| Ceiling | 11,130m |
| Max Range | 1735km |
| Wing Span | 9.8m (32ft 1in) |
| Length | 8.6m (28ft 2in) |
| Empty Weight | 2,660kg |
| Max Weight | 3,676kg |
| Armament | 4x 23mm NS-23 nose cannons |
| As well as provision for rockets and bombs | |