The Soviet Fighter That Shock Everyone of WW2 | Lavochkin La-7

Lavochkin La-7, Lavochkin La-7 & La-5, Soviet Fighter Planes, Lavochkin La-7, Лавочкин Ла-7, Warbirds In the span of four years, the fate of Soviet aviation swung dramatically. Thousands of outclassed aircraft were destroyed before they could even take to the sky when the German force rushed over the frontiers in June 1941, and few people could have imagined the dramatic turn of events that would follow a few months later. Within a few months after the end of World War II, world-class fighters built in large numbers at Soviet facilities were sliding off the assembly lines and into the sky, quickly securing air supremacy over Berlin. And If one individual above all others could be credited for the design revolution in Soviet fighters, it was Semyon Lavochkin. If it hadn’t been for him, the Soviets would have had a far more difficult time taking control of the sky. So to make this a reality they needed him and his most comprehensive fighter designs, the Lavochkin La-7, nicknamed “The war thunder”. And This is the narrative of how it all started. Before war thunder took the skies there was another sibling that was ruling the skies. the La-5. This warplane had been roaming the skies for what seemed like eternity. After a decade of service in the Soviet Air Forces, this warbird had established itself as an efficient and consistent aircraft, but both its designer Semyon Lavochkin and TsAGI institute engineers thought that it could be upgraded further. So both of them started working on improving the warbird. Starting in January 1944, Lavochkin started upgrading work on a base version of the La-5, which after modification would feature lighter, but stronger, metal wing spars to save weight and increase performance. That’s because the base model, like its predecessors, was built mostly of wood in order to save crucial materials such as aviation metals and alloys. These supplies were very difficult to control as the conflict escalated in ferocity. But when it became clear that Soviet policymakers were sure of the alloys’ availability and that there won’t be any shortages for the future, Lavochkin got the green signal to swap out certain wooden pieces with metal ones. #DarkHangar