La-15
Contents
Description
The La-15 is a Rank V Soviet jet fighter with a battle rating 8.0. It was introduced in Update 1.39.
The La-15 is a special jet, it lies somewhere in the middle of the 8.0 jets due to it's wings being incredibly weak for the engine it possesses, and is possibly one of the only planes that can break it's wings clean off in level flight. However, due to the battle rating and the speeds that jet combat is usually fought at, you shouldn't need to rely on your top speed: The La-15 can be classed as an underestimated jet, relying on it's performance at slow speeds (700 kph - 300 kph) to win battles of maneuverability.
General info
Flight Performance
Characteristics | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stock | |||||||
Max Speed (km/h at 3,000 m) |
Max altitude (meters) |
Turn time (seconds) |
Rate of climb (meters/second) |
Take-off run (meters) | |||
AB | RB | AB | RB | AB | RB | ||
999 | 971 | 13,500 | 24.0 | 25.2 | 25.6 | 23.9 | 650 |
Upgraded | |||||||
Max Speed (km/h at 3,000 m) |
Max altitude (meters) | Turn time (seconds) | Rate of climb (meters/second) |
Take-off run (meters) | |||
AB | RB | AB | RB | AB | RB | ||
1,037 | 1,022 | 13,500 | 23.2 | 23.5 | 38.4 | 31.7 | 650 |
Details
Features | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Combat flap | Take-off flap | Landing flap | Air brakes | Arrestor gear |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | X | X |
Limits | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Wing-break speed (km/h) |
Gear limit (km/h) |
Combat flap (km/h) |
Max Static G | |
+ | - | |||
945 | 450 | 520 | ~25 | ~12 |
Optimal velocities | |||
---|---|---|---|
Ailerons (km/h) |
Rudder (km/h) |
Elevators (km/h) |
Radiator (km/h) |
< 640 | < 535 | < 630 | > 140 |
Compressor (RB/SB) | ||
---|---|---|
Setting 1 | ||
Optimal altitude | 100% Engine power | WEP Engine power |
?,??? m | ??? hp | ?,??? hp |
Survivability and armour
- 105 mm Bulletproof glass in cockpit front
- 8 mm Steel plate behind the pilot
- 6 mm Steel plate in the nose
Armaments
Offensive armament
The La-15 is armed with:
- 3 x 23 mm NR-23 cannon, chin-mounted (100 rpg = 300 total)
Usage in the battles
The La-15 should be used in as an American Fighter when not in engagements (Straight Lines, Absolute minimal turning to retain speed) And as a "Jet Turnfighter" when in engagements.
There are the DON'Ts of the La-15...
- DON'T Climb at the beginning of the match, use the beginning of the match to fly straight forward to the enemy, as low to the ground you can get.
- DON'T Keep yourself on 100% throttle and never use the special 112% power that the La-15's engine gives you, the WEP, as one could call it, lasts for a long time, and when overheating, just simply turn it off for about 15 - 60 seconds, after which it can be turned on again
- DON'T Headon Attack or turn after one, Your guns are hard to aim in the heat of a headon and it would be advised to break when closing in on a headon, allowing your enemy to miss his attack and keeping your speed and plane in one piece, your plane is bad at turning at higher speeds.
- DON'T Get into an situation where you must fly at high speeds defensively, when an enemy shows up on your tail, if you have superior speed, outrun him, if he has superior speed, slow down to a point in which higher G turns don't G-lock you, and where you can take full advantage of an enemy fighter's higher speed to get behind them, and while they waste energy turning to get you, avoid their attacks and turn on flaps when you're slow enough.
However, DO the following.
- DO Go straight at the begging of the match, the La-15 still can reach a high enough speed where it can outrun planes that turn to get behind you
- DO Bring 20 minutes of fuel at minimum, you'll have enough fuel to last you a usual jet battle's time with WEP on, and you won't catch on fire.
- DO Keep going straight after you break from a head on attack or overshoot, you can win the acceleration battle with almost any American jet you face.
- DO Slow down when an enemy plane that's faster than you is behind you, most enemy planes will try to keep their speed, which puts you in a situation to pull hard turns without G-locking, if you're fast, do some light horizontal turns, but don't turn into the vertical, most american fighters will beat you at energy retention at higher speeds, but have no acceleration when they stall, leading you to always be in front of their guns, if possible, keep rolling and spiraling, using your w a s d keys to dodge attacks, and then come out as the slower but still maneuverable plane when they try to dogfight you
Specific enemies worth noting
F-86 Sabre/CL-13A Sabre:
The F-86 Sabre is the one of the main rivals of the La-15 if up-teired and facing allied teams. The Sabre can easily out maneuver, out run, and out climb the La-15. The best way to counter the Sabre is to attack it when it is at its most vulnerable position (low on energy, or damaged) or force it into a low speed maneuvering fight. Do not try to engage a F-86/CL-13A Sabre in any high speed maneuvers or any high speed dog fighting in general as the Sabre will come out on top. In any low speed manoeuvers, the Sabre will lose to the La-15 in any manoeuvering engagements.
Meteor:
The Meteor is another main rival of the La-15 as the La-15 can meet the Meteor at any time from being down-teired to up-tiered. While the La-15 can out run and out climb early variants of the Meteors, the later variants are far harder to out run and out climb as they can easily catch the La-15. The best way to deal with Meteors is to apply boom and zoom tactics, but do remember a skilled Meteor pilot will have no issue avoiding a La-15 that is attacking with boom and zoom tactics. Avoid any maneuvering fights with any variant of the Meteor as they will out maneuver you with no issues at all.
Counter-tactics
The La-15 has, at best, a speed limit of 1000 km/h. Be aware of this and, if possible, try to out dive or out run the La-15, as it can break it's wings easily in a dive and in level flight. It's airbrake is ineffective in a hard dive unless the engine is turned off, so turn on an afterburner and keep it on until you have gotten into level flight. If you are slower than the La-15, Do not try to climb, break, or use an airbrake, the La-15 has very good energy retention in a climb and it's airbrake very effective at level flight, so refrain from these types of defensive flying.
Modules
Tier | Flight performance | Survivability | Weaponry | |
---|---|---|---|---|
I | Fuselage Repair | Compressor | Offensive 23 mm | |
II | New Boosters | Airframe | ||
III | Wings Repair | New 23 mm Cannons | ||
IV | Engine | Cover |
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Cannons have decent rate of fire and punch.
- Good energy retention.
- Decent acceleration.
- Cockpit visibility is above average.
- Decent maneuverability around 500-700 kph/310-435 mph.
- Good roll rate.
- good top speed for its rank
Cons:
- Low top speed for a swept wing jet.
- Can rip its wings off in level flight (speed warning at approximately 945 kph/587 mph, wings rip at 955 kph/593 mph).
- Ineffective airbrake.
- Guns have poor accuracy and very low muzzle velocity. Hitting a target can be difficult.
- Ammunition is limited, restricted to firing short accurate bursts from close range.
- Doesn’t take battle damage very well especially to the wings of the aircraft.
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to an article about the vehicle and adding a block "/ historical reference" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/Name-vehicles/historical reference) and add a link to it here using the main
template. Be sure to include links to sources at the end of the article.
Media
An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.
Read also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example,
- reference to the series of the aircraft;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
Sources
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- page on aircraft encyclopedia;
- other literature.
USSR jet aircraft | |
---|---|
Bereznyak-Isayev | BI |
Yakovlev | Yak-15 · Yak-15P · Yak-17 · Yak-23 · Yak-28B · Yak-30D · Yak-38 · Yak-38M · Yak-141 |
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Su-24M | |
Su-25 · Su-25BM · Su-25K · Su-25T · Su-25SM3 · Su-39 | |
Su-27 · Su-27SM | |
Su-34 | |
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