Does anyone know the speed of the yak-9m with the vk105pf-2 engine? I've looked all over.
Ron, e-mail, 11.03.2012 08:14
Aaron, I think the series -66 was the late model LaGG-3 you refer to prior to the radial LaG-5. Am I wrong? At first sight your -37 reminds me of the 37mm hub cannon armed LaGG-3 but then you mention the standard guns. What am I missing? Could you please expand on that a little for us? Certainly it was better against bombers and ground attack than tackle enemy fighters since it was typically no stall fighter before the weight was trimmed. It had a tendency to spin out till then. Many crash landings were due to stalling on the approach. Nice to see it finally develop into a halfway competent dog-fighter in the end of it's run. In fact early LaG-5 pilots wanted their LaGG-3-66 back! But Lavochkin persevered with a more powerful radial and other refinements until it outperformed the -66, then the latest Fw 190 and Bf 109 too! In fact some would say the La-7 was finally better than even a Yak.
Aaron, e-mail, 25.06.2011 16:14
I'm not going to go into detail on each of the many variants of this type. For the most part the LaGG-3 was underpowered/overweight and sluggish by VVS standards and compaired to other USSR fighters. It dove well and was very rugged like the P-40. But, in April 1943 a lightened and improved model was approved for production after its fist flight. The LaGG-3-37 when flown by Yuri Shipov in front of the VVS proved that it was capable of turning with a Yak-9D and outclimb it. In service it proved to be more than a match for any Bf.109 it met in combat and had no difficulties in encountering the Fw.190 in 1944. The number of this type was relitively small because production was terminated in autumn of 1943 in favor of the La-5. The following performance is typical for the LaGG-3-37: M-105PF: 1,260hp WE. 1xUBS (12.7mm). 806m/s 1,000rpm. Bullet weight: 40g. Penetration: 20mm @ 350m. 1xShVAK (20mm). 800m/s. 800rpm. Bullet weight: 96g. Penetration: 25mm /150m. 15mm /300m. Max.Speed: 339mph/SL. 372mph/12,497ft. Climb: 3,680fpm/SL. 16,400ft/5.1min. Ceiling: 35,960ft.
Ron, e-mail, 06.05.2011 01:42
The M-105PF powered LaGG-3 toward the end of 1941 could do negative 'g' dives (Ditto for the Yak).
Ronald, e-mail, 03.09.2008 06:24
Beware the VYa-23. It could penetrate most any armor in the air! The ShVAK 20mm was certainly faster but was light by world standards for the caliber. The VYa was like two 20mm cannon. The Volkov-Yartsev-23mm fired a 200g projectile containing 10g of HE or penetrate 1 inch armor at 400m (1,300') with AP rounds. It's muzzle velocity was 905mps!! It made the IL-2 famous. Rate of fire ranged from 370-600rpm.
Ronald, e-mail, 03.09.2008 04:54
Salvo of fire = 2.88kg/sec. (2 ShKAS, 2 UBS +1 UB)early. = 2.00-2.72kg/sec. (1 UBS +1 ShVAK or VYa-23). Climb to 5km = 6.8-8.5 min. 360 turn = 20-26 sec.