Aeroplane Heaven Lavochkin La-9

By Andrew Herd (13 January 2005)

f there is a class of plane that can claim to have any kind of a special hold over pilots' hearts, there is little doubt that it is the last of the piston engined fighters. The fact that these planes were built in relatively small numbers, having been designed during the war, but generally arriving too late to see action, only increases their attraction for the lucky few who get to fly them - and the crowds that gather to see them perform. I don't need to introduce the planes to you, but this select group includes the Hawker Tempest and Sea Fury, the Grumman Bearcat and the Lavochkin La-9, the last of which being the rarest of them all, because as far as I am aware, only a single flying example survives, preserved by Ray Hanna and Garth Hogan's Old Flying Machine Company.

Now you might ask what it is about these planes that quickens the pulse, given that they have a fraction of the performance of a modern jet. The answer is kind of complicated, but easier to understand if you have flown a high performance plane - these aircraft tread right on the limit of the balance between power and performance; fully aerobatic, very fast and ready to bite you at a moment's notice should your attention wander. They made formidable opponents as they could out turn the early jets with ease and had such pace that they couldn't easily be left behind, but they were rapidly left behind by the relentless march of technology. I guess the other thing about them is that they have operating costs that you can just about get your head around if you have extremely deep pockets, and they have enough in common with 'ordinary' piston engined planes that you don't need to go to night school to work out how to fly one. But mostly they are as exciting as all got out.

The La-9 was an evolution from the La-7, with a subtly reshaped fuselage and laminar flow wings. The latter feature on almost all late piston engined fighters and while they have considerable drawbacks (like losing considerable amounts of lift if they get even slightly dirty and interesting stalling characteristics), they were essential if high speeds were to be achieved without invoking the dreaded phenomenon of compressibility. Ultimately, the answer turned out to be to sweep the wing, but few aerodynamacists knew about such esoterica in 1945 and even if they had done, swept wings are really only practical on jets.

Various prototypes were produced before a plane called the La-130 was rolled out early in '46. This had all metal wings - rare on Soviet fighters during the war - packed four 23 mm cannon and it was fast, with a big, modern cockpit and bags of endurance. It passed the State Acceptance Trials in October that year and went into immediate service with the V-VS (Soviet Air Force), 1630 being built, although the plane was destined to be phased out in favor of jets from 1949 onwards. But the story didn't stop there. In early 1952, considerable quantities were shipped to China and the Chinese promptly put them into action in Korea, using them as long range escorts and fighter bombers against Seoul, Kimpo and Inchon. During this time, La-9s repeatedly came into combat with Sabres and Twin Mustangs, proving themselves respected opponents, although fortunately for the Allies, Chinese Air Force training left a lot to be desired.

Close to, the La-9 exudes power. Up front is a 14 cylinder ASh-82FN radial, pulling a fuselage that is only 28 feet long with a 32 foot wingspan. Picture a Piper Warrior, make it four foot longer, clip the wings and pack in another 1600 horsepower and you are in the La-9 ballpark.

Inside, the cockpit is neatly laid out and very modern by comparison to V-VS fighters of only a few years before. All the instruments are metric, of course, and the usual Soviet convention of having identical levers for the flaps and gear placed side by side is there to tempt the careless. Starts are accompanied by lots of noise, smoke and oil, and once the engine is running the usual Soviet plane stink fills the cockpit - it pays to shut the canopy as early as possible as most of the smell eddies in from outside.

Running the engine up is complicated by the fact that the brakes don't hold against full boost, full takeoff power being 47 inches of manifold pressure and 2500 rpm. Takeoff swing (left) is fairly minimal, though the rudder isn't terribly effective until the tail comes up, and the plane unsticks around 105 mph and climbs at 160 mph with 35 inches and 2300 rpm set - the same figures will do for maximum continuous cruise. Should you run into trouble with swing early in the run, the solution is to pull the throttle momentarily, or a high-speed ground loop is fairly inevitable; but once in the air, the La-9 is sweet to fly, with well harmonised controls possessing the same kind of sensitivity as a CAP 20. Gear can be lowered at 200 mph, flaps at 155, base turn something like 135, over the fence at a touch over 110, say 112; and the stall is at 90.

The Aeroplane Heaven La-9 is a 39 Mb download, the manual being an additional 1.8 Mb. Installation is straightforward, as long as you have downloaded the correct .exe, there being separate ones for each flight simulation. When the process is complete, the La-9 is installed with four liveries and creates a program group containing a lonely uninstall icon. I am not certain why the manual isn't part of the installation, but it only takes a few moments to create a link for it.

I did the review in FS2004. CFS3 is something of a lame duck these days and Aeroplane Heaven are to be congratulated for staying loyal to their many fans who use this sim. As usual, the first thing I did was to flick through the manual, which has been done in some style, appearing as an old POH with color pictures and English text - when the OFMC bought their La-9, I imagine they would have given their eye teeth for such a thing. For all that it is very neat, the manual is only twelve pages long and there isn't a great deal in it for the more experienced simmer; in particular, if you are thinking of trying any aerobatics, you are going to have to work out the entry speeds yourself.

Where's the ground? Oh, yeah, there. Right. Part of the fun of running regular reviews is that we get to see developers evolve - or at least, we hope to do so. Aeroplane Heaven are definitely on a roll, if the La-9 is anything to go by. Previously, my favorite sim from their hangar was the Bristol Bulldog, which can at least lay claim to be the best FS2004 biplane around, though it has some slightly rough edges in the cockpit graphics department. As you can see from the graphic on the right, the La-9 2D panel is pretty near to perfection, despite being based only a 1024 x 768 graphic. The instrument faces are among the best I have seen and though I haven't shown it, Aeroplane Heaven have included a 'navigation panel' which is an approach view panel with the radios conveniently to hand. In common with the default planes, there is only one 2D view.

Going back to the visual model, which once again represents a step forward for the developer. A critical eye might say that it isn't quite as nice as Captain Sim's Yak-3, but the time is coming when Captain Sim are going to have to watch their heels, particularly if Aeroplane Heaven continue to specialise in warbirds. I have shown two of the liveries, others being for the North Korean Air Force and the Chinese AF. The high point of the model is undoubtedly the gear wells - take a look above - and more or less every animation you would expect is there, including an opening canopy, but there is no maintenance mode like the Captain Sim Yak. If your finances will stretch to it, the pair make a very interesting comparison.

The virtual cockpit is at least as good as the 2D panel and good enough to fly the plane, as it includes fully clickable controls. One strange feature of the VC is that the instruments disappear if you move the viewpoint back more than a small amount, but in practice it is just possible to get enough of the panel in view to fly the plane before this happens.

The flight model does justice to the accounts of what flying an La-9 is like. True to form, the ground handling doesn't encourage you to linger on the pavement and on the sim, at least, it pays to beware of the trim, as setting it too tail light can lead to the plane nosing over when full power is applied. As with all high performance planes, it pays to progressively feed in power, because firewalling the throttle at the beginning of the takeoff run leaves you at the mercy of 1800 horsepower's worth of torque and insufficient airflow over the rudder to control it. Once airborne, the only things to beware of are considerable changes in trim associated with gear and flap operation and the sim proves to be as nice to fly as they say the real one is. I managed a slightly bouncy wheeler first time I landed it, so most reasonably experienced simmers shouldn't have any problems flying it.

Verdict? Best yet from Aeroplane Heaven and a package that seriously deserves to put this developer on the map. I can wholeheartedly recommend buying it, not only because is an absolute steal at the price, but because flying it provides about as much fun as you can have with your clothes on. Just don't forget to shut the canopy before you takeoff - I don't want you gassing yourself.