Lavochkin Fighters of the Second World War

Book excerpt: The Lavochkin fighters remain little known in the West, although with the Yakovlev fighter series they were the backbone of the Red Air Force fighter force during the Second World War. The author rectifies that with this comprehensive history of these fighters. With this book he describes in great detail the three main variants of the Lavochkin fighter series during the Second World War: the only partially successful LaGG-3 inline-engined fighter, the successful radial-engined La-5 fighter, and the superb radial engined La-7 fighter, one of the best piston-engined fighter aircraft of the entire Second World War. Both the design and history of these fighters are featured, including how the mediocre inline engined LaGG-3 was turned into a top notch fighter by the replacement of the Klimov inline engine by the Shvetsov M-82 radial engine. Besides describing the wartime designs he includes a section on the postwar successors to the Second World War fighters, the completely new all metal La-9 and La-11, which saw extensive postwar service. Accurate color profiles illustrate all variants.