La-11

This page is about the Soviet fighter La-11. For the Chinese version, see La-11 (China).

La-11

La-11

USSR

IV Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
5.3	5.3	5.7

Class:

PREMIUM

Fighter

Purchase:Bundle or Gift

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Description

The La-11 was a late propeller fighter developed as an improved version of the La-9. Initially named as La-130, the aircraft was further enhanced based on VVS recommendations and renamed as La-9M. With increased fuel capacity and weight, it was later certified as the La-11 in 1947. However, by 1951, with the rise of jet fighters, the La-11 became obsolete. It had limited combat success and was primarily used as a trainer. The aircraft found second life with Soviet allies like the KPAF and PLAAF before being phased out in favour of jet fighters.

It was introduced as a premium pack in Update 1.65 "Way of the Samurai" and was removed from the store after the 2018 Summer Sale. It was again made available briefly as part of the 2021 Summer Sale. The La-11 being a long range version of the La-9 is heavier, however its flight performance is very similar, but this only happens with light fuel loads. Its engine performs better at low altitudes, so stay below 4000m to increase engine output. The armament consists of 3 x NS 23 cannons which are excellent for dealing with enemy aircrafts and can consistently destroy bombers and heavy fighters.

General info

Flight performance

Max speed

at 6 200 m680 km/h

Turn time22 s

Max altitude10 250 m

EngineShvetsov M-82FN

TypeRadial

Cooling systemAir

Take-off weight4 t

The La-11 is a long-range version of its brother, the La-9. Most of its flight performance is identical, besides a heavier weight due to additional fuel tanks. The weight itself is in fact the culprit, making La-11 underperform compared to the La-9. At full load, it performs nowhere close to its predecessor, while with lighter loads it makes it fairly identical to the La-9. Therefore, bringing less fuel is suggested for better flight performance.

Like the La-9 and many designs from Lavochkin Design Bureau, the La-11 is specialized at below 4,000 m (around 13,000 ft) thanks to its M-82FN engine found on many earlier Soviet air-cooled propellers. This engine, at 1,650 hp when spaded, could push the La-11 up to 680 km/h at 6,200 m albeit with worse performance compared to liquid-cooled engines at such altitude. Staying below 4,000 m is required for optimal engine output, which might become a problem when being suppressed by late WWII propellers at higher altitudes.

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 6,200 m)		Max altitude (metres)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (metres/second)		Take-off run (metres)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	653	632	10250	23.2	24.0	11.7	11.7	500
Upgraded	709	680		20.9	22.0	21.8	16.1

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	X

Limits
Wings (km/h)	Gear (km/h)	Flaps (km/h)			Max Static G
		Combat	Take-off	Landing	+	-
850	320	460	434	290	~12	~7

Optimal velocities (km/h)
Ailerons	Rudder	Elevators	Radiator
< 480	< 340	< 570	> 341

Survivability and armour

Crew1 person

Speed of destruction

Structural0 km/h

Gear320 km/h

Thanks to its development era at very early Cold War, the fuel tanks were equipped with nitrogen generators which helped to suppress a fire if the tanks were penetrated, making it less prone to being set aflame.

The protection itself is nothing to be proud of: a 55 mm glass-plate up front at the windshield and a 66 mm one at the back, as well as a 8.5 mm steel plate in the lower rear side of the cockpit. It might absorb some damage from 12.7 mm MGs, but anything beyond that calibre can finish off the pilot with ease.

• Steel plate
  • Rear of cockpit, behind the seat- 8.5 mm
• Bulletproof glass
  • Windshield- 55 mm
  • Rear of cockpit, behind the headrest- 66 mm

Modifications and economy

Repair cost

AB1 941

RB4 371

SB9 479

Crew training10 000

Experts320 000

Aces1 100

Research Aces1 050 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

2 × 100 / 230 / 480 %

2 × 172 / 172 / 172 %

Modifications

Flight performance	Survivability	Weaponry
Fuselage repair Radiator Compressor Wings repair Engine Engine injection	Airframe Cover	ns23_belt_pack ns23_new_gun

Armaments

Offensive armament

Weapon 13 x 23 mm NS-23 cannon

Ammunition225 rounds

Fire rate600 shots/min

The La-11 is armed with:

• 3 x 23 mm NS-23 cannons, nose-mounted (75 rpg = 225 total)

The NS-23 cannons are common to players who played Yakovlev fighters as well, mostly fitted in the engine cowl with fairly few rounds. In the La-11's case, it has 225 rounds to spare with 75 rounds per guns spread around the engine fairing, one less gun than its predecessor. The calibre of this gun alone is feared by many aircraft including the heaviest bombers. A few accurate shots from the "Air targets" belts can ruin their day quickly with ease. Heavier planes will also suffer from severe or even lethal damage. But do keep in mind that 225 rounds in total is not good news for trigger-happy players, so fire these guns in short bursts.

Usage in battles

Upon quick inspection of the La-11, players can find some noticeable differences from the original La-9: one less cannon and the removal of the cooling system under the fuselage. The plane itself performs like a less powerful version of the La-9 with longer range, so players of La-9 will quickly feel like home.

A common feature of Lavochkin aircraft is the air-cooled engine and the La-11 is no exception: the same M-82FN engine is retained from its predecessor so in terms of speed and acceleration; aside from the fact that the extended range costed manoeuvrability reduction on La-11, at lower fuel time, the fighter performs just like a La-9 does. While the engine is powerful enough to accelerate the plane to 680 km/h at higher altitude, this plane is not a high-altitude interceptor with its sluggish performance against fighters at similar tier; so keeping the plane below 4,000 m and waiting for teammates to pursuit fighters to lower altitude is the better option. With its acceleration, it helps La-11 to make powerful strikes upon fighters which have been bailed from a manoeuvre, three 23 mm NS-23 cannons can make very short work of any enemy with ease. Alternatively, if players feel confident with their gunnery, these cannons also serve as a great head-on weaponry thanks to its positioning and a fairly straight ballistic. With some trick moves, you can even win a fight against P-47s in one piece!

But keep in mind that the La-11 suffers from subpar, or sometimes even inferior directional control when the plane is at around 700 km/h, which can be common if you have to chase down fighters which have been baited down, so it is essential to learn how to compensate the directional control with your ailerons.

Overall, the La-11 is still a fighter that players can enjoy; while the firepower and low-altitude acceleration is sufficient, most of the time, you will have to face fighters that can be up to 3 km above you, which is very challenging to deal with.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Not controllable	Controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Separate	Controllable 2 gears	Not controllable

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Powerful nose-mounted cannons
• High rate of fire
• Ability to fire the guns separately (one 23 mm cannon is bound as light machine guns, the other two are cannons)
• Good performance below 3 km thanks to the powerful engine
• Decent roll rate

Cons:

• Doesn't perform well at altitudes above 4 km
• Low ammo capacity (one less gun than the La-9)
• Powerful recoil
• Poor frontal cockpit visibility

History

The Lavochkin La-9 (NATO: Fritz) was among the very last propeller fighters in the world, starting its fairly short life in the VVS in 1946. While the aircraft was still under the prototype name of La-130, VVS suggested that Lavochkin should further improve the range of La-130; the new design, which was rushed out just 6 months after the commission of La-9, was later renamed to La-134, aka La-9M. The new La-9M was tested by A.G. Kochetkov in May 1947, with many modifications over the original La-130 design and most of all, up to 1,130 litres of fuel could be held instead of the original 825l. This meant a 571 kg increase in full-load weight and after flight tests it was concluded that La-9M could perform like a La-9 only when around 600 L of fuel was carried.

The new La-134/La-9M then passed for certification and was renamed to its current name - Lavochkin La-11 (NATO: Fang) in the same year; assembled at Factory 21 (UAC Sokol Aircraft Plant in Nizhny Novgorod) under the factory name Izdeliye 51. It was manufactured until 1951 when newer jets were already soaring through the skies, which also marked the end of propeller fighters; the aircraft scored very few victories over its enemies due to the late introduction and were mostly used as trainers. Most of them were then transferred to Soviet allies such as the KPAF and PLAAF, where they would have a second life before they were finally all replaced by jets.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the La-11 from live.warthunder.com.

Videos

Premium Review: La-11 [Underwhelming] - Jengar

See 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.

External links

• [Devblog] La-11: The Last of Its Kind
• Official data sheet - more details about the performance

Lavochkin Design Bureau (Лавочкинa Опытное конструкторское бюро)
LaGG-3*	I-301 · LaGG-3-4 · LaGG-3-8 · LaGG-3-11 · LaGG-3-23 · LaGG-3-34 · LaGG-3-35 · LaGG-3-66
La-5/7	La-5 · La-5F · La-5FN · La-7 · Dolgushin's La-7 · La-7B-20
La-9/11	La-9 · La-11
Jet Fighters	La-15 · La-174 · La-200
Export	␗La-9 · ␗La-11
Captured	▀La-5FN
	*Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov (Лавочкин-Горбунов-Гудков), head designer V. P. Gorbunov