Dev Blog #38
Hello, comrades!
Today is an important day for our project "Korea" - the La-11 has taken to the virtual sky!
Today is an important day for our project "Korea" - the La-11 has taken to the virtual sky!
Earlier, in Dev Blog #29 we discussed the history of the airplane and its design, and in Dev Blog #23, we discussed the history of the airplane and its design, and in Dev Blog #23, we spoke about its instrumentation and cockpit. Today, this handsome aircraft, the culmination of the fighter line’s evolution, which began in 1940 with the LaGG-3, takes to the air after several difficult months of work on its visualization, airframe, and systems model.
There is still a lot to be done, including cockpit texturing, assessing the flight characteristics, and adding various features such as teaching the AI to control this machine, making the weapons functional, and customizing the cockpit instrumentation. However, the main phase has been completed, and the aircraft is already airborne!
Between 1940 and 1947, the aerodynamic contours of the airplane approached perfection over a seven-year period. Its complex and swift (by modern standards) evolution, amid a major war, blended almost perfectly formed external and internal air ducts and underhood space. Due to this, using the same M-82FN engine that the airplane was fitted with in 1943, its performance increased significantly. The use of an all-metal airframe design allowed for an increase in dive speed, and the emergency canopy jettison system enabled pilots to utilize the aircraft’s capabilities to the fullest, without compromising them by flying with an open cockpit.
The modified design of the engine cowl made it possible to install a significantly strengthened armament — three 23 mm NS-23 Nudelman-Suranov cannons, each with a rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute, which multiplied the firepower. Now, any enemy caught in such a firing line had very little chance of continuing the fight. Together with increased maneuverability and speed, this made the La-11 one of the most formidable piston fighters in history, capable of competing in combat with the best of Western technology.
In addition to improvements in flight performance and armament, the evolution of Lavochkin piston fighters, in particular, and the Soviet industry in general, provided the pilot with a significantly better view from the cockpit. This was achieved by a completely new design of the canopy — the rearward view was greatly improved by the one-piece rear part of the canopy, and the improved quality of plexiglass production reduced distortion of the view from the cockpit as a whole. Forward visibility was also improved — this occurred at the time of the La-7, when the engine intake was moved from the upper surface of the cowl.
Earlier, we discussed the fact that all three countries participating in the Korean War utilized this fighter, and today, you can see what the original La-11 color schemes looked like. When redeploying to the Korean theater, Chinese and Soviet units painted North Korean roundels with a star on top of their own identifying marks.
We have now discussed almost all aircraft in the main set of our new project. Now there is only one left, to which we have not dedicated a Dev Blog yet. Besides this machine, we plan to talk about the additional aircraft set during the fall. We expect this to surprise you pleasantly!
