La-5FN

La-5FN

La-5F

La-7

La-5FN

La-5F

La-7

USSR

III Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
4.0	3.7	4.0

Class:

Fighter

Research:18 000

Purchase:47 000

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This page is about the aircraft La-5FN. For other uses, see La-5 (Disambiguation)

Description

The La-5FN in the garage

The La-5FN is a Rank III Russian fighter with a battle rating of 4.0 (AB/SB) and 3.7 (RB). This aircraft has been in the game since the start of the Open Beta Test prior to Update 1.29.

Being the last La-5 modification available, one can expect a similar playstyle to the previous variants, but turned up to 11. Sporting accurate twin 20 mm's and amazing low altitude performance, the La-5FN is a plane with heart that can provide some blood pumping engagements.

General info

Flight Performance

Characteristics
Stock
Max Speed (km/h at 6,100 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
595	576	11350	20	20.8	17.6	17.6	341
Upgraded
Max Speed (km/h at 6,100 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
645	619	11350	18.1	19.2	27.2	21.7	341

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
			+	-
735	310	???	~??	~?

Optimal velocities
Ailerons (km/h)	Rudder (km/h)	Elevators (km/h)	Radiator (km/h)
< ???	< ???	< ???	> ???

Compressor (RB/SB)
Setting 1
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
?,??? m	??? hp	?,??? hp

Survivability and armour

• 66 ~ 77 mm bulletproof glass in the rear windshield
• 55 mm bulletproof glass in the front windshield
• 8.5 ~ 10 mm steel plate behind the pilot seat
• Critical components located at the front of aircraft (fuel, pilot, engine, controls)
• More fuel tanks located near the wing roots

Armaments

Offensive armament

Main article: ShVAK (20 mm)->

The

La-5FN

La-5F

La-7

La-5FN

La-5F

La-7

USSR

III Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
4.0	3.7	4.0

Class:

Fighter

Research:18 000

Purchase:47 000

Show in game

is armed with:

• 2 x 20 mm ShVAK cannons, nose mounted (170 rpg = 340 total)

The ShVAK cannons are quite effective at this BR, with adequate damage output, a high rate of fire, and decent belts. However, they gained the nickname "Spark-VAK's" for a reason. The Russian ShVAK's are notorious for having hit detection problems (also known as "sparking") and seem to do so consistently. Aside from that, they are crippled by mediocre damage per shot and by having the worst HEI round in the game, so one should focus on the critical components of a plane such as the engine and pilot. The cannons themselves are accurate, even in stock configuration, and have the fastest rate of fire of any of its contemporaries (Hispano Mk.II's/404's, MG 151's, Ho-5's, Type 98/99's).

Suspended armament

     Main article: Bombs-->

The

La-5FN

La-5F

La-7

La-5FN

La-5F

La-7

USSR

III Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
4.0	3.7	4.0

Class:

Fighter

Research:18 000

Purchase:47 000

Show in game

can be outfitted with the following ordinance:

• Clean plane
• 2 x FAB-50 bombs ( 2 x 50 kg bombs = 100 kg)

Usage in the battles

Playstyle and Information:

The La-5FN is the last of the La-5 modifications available before moving on to the improved La-7, and is one of the best planes at its BR. Designed to be a contemporary to the universally feared German Bf 109, it maintains excellent energy retention, adequate speed, brutal acceleration, and an amazing turn rate makes this a monster at its rank. If you made it this far in the Russian tech tree, you should understand that all but 4 Russian prop fighters are horrible above 4,000 metres, where their engines that are tuned for low-altitude will asphyxiate above that altitude, so avoid high altitude fights at all costs.

A pure bred energy fighter through and through, one should employ energy fighting tactics such as stall fighting, vertical scissors and others. However, due to its fantastic turn rate, you can outturn most German, American, Italian and French fighters. Never engage in a turn fight with the British Spitfires or most Japanese fighters, as they can turn on a dime and have relatively powerful armament.

Specific Enemies Worth Noting:

• Spitfires: The legendary British fighter is the king of low altitude fighting. It can turn on a dime, has a decent top-end speed, but has a mediocre roll rate that only gets worse at higher speeds. Avoid them at all costs unless they are unaware of your presence. In which case, dive on it and aim for the pilot and wings, as your cannons will rip through them.
• C.205 Serie 3's and G.55's: These Italian menaces are heavily armed dogfighters that are effectively Bf 109's with more weapons. Their speed is almost unparalleled at this rank and excel at most fighting scenarios. If one forces a fight on you, attempt to turn fight, as when combined with combat flaps and the effective rudder, you outturn them by a decent margin.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Controllable	Not controllable	Not controllable	Not controllable	Separate	Not ontrollable	Not controllable

Modules

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I	Fuselage Repair	Radiator	Armoured glass	DZ-40
II		Compressor	Airframe
III	Wings Repair	Engine	Rear armour plate	Offensive 20 mm belts
IV		Engine Injection	Cover	New 20 mm

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Excellent low altitude performance.
• Fantastic energy retention.
• Competitive turn rate.
• Adequate speed.
• Cannons are fast firing and accurate.
• Leading-edge wing slats improve turn rate.
• Responsive elevator authority.
• Amazing acceleration turns brutal with WEP.
• Sturdy for a Russian fighter.
• Good armour made better with upgrades.
• Can mount two underwing bombs for ground pounding.

Cons:

• Asphyxiates at high altitudes.
• Cannons are mediocre at best, with the worst HEI round and a nasty habit of sparking.
• Only two cannons can be inadequate against heavier fighters and bombers.
• Lower dive speed compared to contemporaries.
• The bombs are only 50 kg that need to be dropped directly on an enemy to secure a destruction.

History

In early 1942, Semyon Lavochkin's LaGG-3 fighter was under threat of having its production cancelled, having proved itself to be a flawed fighter, underpowered and overweight. At the same time, Arkady Shvetsov faced a lack of demand for his M-82 radial engine, only successfully used by the Sukhoi Su-2 ground attack aircraft that was also in danger of being cancelled. The two designers met at a conference in Moscow, and Shvetsov agreed to help Lavochkin fit the M-82 engine to the LaGG-3 airframe. Mikhail Gudkov, one of the original designers of the LaGG-3, had already attempted to do the same thing, resulting in the Gu-82 fighter. However, he had delayed too long in getting the fighter into production, and by April 1942, Aleksander Yakovlev had succeeded in getting production of the LaGG-3 cancelled in favour of his Yak-7 fighter, effectively monopolising Soviet fighter production.

Lavochkin's OKB was, in the meantime, transferred to the backwaters of Tbilisi, Georgia and he and his team had to work almost illegally and in harsh conditions to modify the LaGG-3 for the M-82 engine. The radial engine was physically wider than the LaGG-3 fuselage cross-section, requiring skirting to attach the larger engine and to the fuselage, and the M-82 also had no space for an engine-mounted cannon, unlike the Klimov M-105. Thus, the updated armament changed to two 20 mm ShVAK cannon mounted on top of the engine. The new LaGG-3 M-82 (also known as the Samolyot 37 (Aircraft 37) or the Type 37) was completed in February 1942 and underwent test flights, with promising results despite problems with engine cooling. Its performance was better than any Soviet fighter then in service. Other issues revealed in testing consisted of: excessive control forces, oil leaks, and excessive weight, but these could not overshadow the LaGG-3 M-82's excellent performance, and it full-scale development began as the LaG-5. The first fully operational LaG-5s were delivered on 20 June 1942.

Series LaG-5s suffered from poor quality, which reduced performance considerably. As was revealed in the test flights, pilots found it to be a more difficult aircraft to fly than the Yak-1 or LaGG-3, but the radial engine enhanced protection during head-on attacks. Redesignated La-5 in September 1942, the new fighter faced its first important test during the battle of Stalingrad. It proved not to be enough to equal the Bf 109 F-4 and G-2 models but was considered capable of further improvement. Continuous improvements to the La-5 would eventually lead to the La-5F, La-5FN, and finally the La-7, among some of the most excellent Soviet fighters of the Great Patriotic War.

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

https://live.warthunder.com/dl/qsU_hqp600HbuY0J/?s=_mq The skin used in the live action trailer "Victory is Ours!"

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.

All of the previous models in the La-5 line:

• La-5
• La-5F
• La-5FN (Germany)

The Next in the Lavochkin line:

• La-7
• La-7B-20

Sources

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• page on aircraft encyclopedia;
• other literature.