La-11 was a Soviet single-engine piston-powered escort fighter designed by Semyon Lavochkin and produced in series from 1947 to 1951. The aircraft became the last mass-produced piston-engine fighter of the Soviet Air Forces and was built at Plant No. 21 in Gorky (now the Sokol Plant), as a further development of the La-9 fighter.
Design and specifications
The La-11 was an all-metal monoplane with retractable landing gear and an ASh-82FN air-cooled radial engine. Compared with its predecessor, the La-9, the aircraft received an increased fuel capacity for long-range bomber escort missions, while its armament was reduced from four NS-23 cannons to three.[1]
Production and combat use
Serial production of the La-11 was carried out at Gorky Aircraft Plant No. 21 — the same enterprise that had produced Lavochkin's earlier aircraft during the Second World War. The aircraft was supplied to the USSR's allied countries, including China and North Korea, where it was used during the Korean War of 1950–1953.[1]
The Nizhny Novgorod connection
The La-11 was produced at Plant No. 21 in Gorky — an enterprise that had given the city its aviation specialization as early as the 1930s and was later transformed into the Sokol Aircraft Plant. It was Gorky's production that ensured the transition of Soviet fighter aviation from piston-engine to jet aircraft: after the La-11, the plant mastered the jet-powered MiG-15 and MiG-21.[1]
Links
- Wikidata (Q1538894 — an entry in the free knowledge base)
Sources
- scalemodels.ru — Viewing Image: 1406588635_rrrrrsss-rrrssrrr-srsrrrrjosrjorjo-rjo-rjos-srrjorrrrjo-rr-rsrrjorr2C-1948.jpg: Micro World of the La-9/11 — The Last of the Piston-Engined Fighters