Lavochkin La-168

The Lavochkin La-168 was a jet fighter developed for the USSR. It was designed in response to a 1946 request for a new swept-wing jet fighter capable of transonic speeds. As a single seat fighter with swept flight surfaces and an engine behind the pilot, it was similar in appearance to the Mikoyan MiG-15, which was designed to the same specifications. It also shared the cannon-armament and the Rolls-Royce Nene II engine. Unlike the MiG-15, the La-168 had shoulder mounted wings and a t-tail layout. Due to Lavochkin's decision to wait with La-168 development for the Nene II engine, the MiG-15, first flown with the less powerful Nene I, was available four months earlier, giving it a crucial advantage.

The La-168's first flight was on April 22, 1948, with I. E. Fedorov at the controls. Trials continued until February 19, 1949, when testing of the cannons at high altitude caused the canopy to collapse, almost resulting in a fatal crash. In the end, the Lavochkin fighter lost out to the competing MiG-15. It was later developed into several variants, including the production La-15, which although being well liked and having superior performance, was more expensive and harder to mass produce than the MiG-15. Another La-168 derivative was the La-176, the first Soviet plane to achieve supersonic flight (in a shallow dive) on December 26, 1948.

pecifications (La-168)

aircraft specifications
plane or copter?= plane
jet or prop?= jet
ref={name of first source}
crew= one, pilot
capacity=
length main= 9.5 m
length alt= 31 ft 2 in
span main= 10.56 m
span alt= 24 ft 8 in
height main=
height alt=
area main= 18.08 m²
area alt= 194.54 ft²
airfoil=
empty weight main= 2,973 kg
empty weight alt= 6,540 lb
loaded weight main=
loaded weight alt=
useful load main=
useful load alt=
max takeoff weight main= 4,412 kg
max takeoff weight alt= 9,706 lb
more general=
engine (jet)= Rolls-Royce Nene II
type of jet=centrifugal flow turbojet
number of jets=
thrust main= 22.3 kN
thrust alt= 4,994 lbf
thrust original=
afterburning thrust main=
afterburning thrust alt=
max speed main= 1,084 km/h
max speed alt= 581 kt, 669 mph
max speed more=at sea level
cruise speed main=
cruise speed alt=
never exceed speed main=
never exceed speed alt=
stall speed main=
stall speed alt=
range main= 1,275 km
range alt= 688 nm, 786 mi
ceiling main= 14,570 m
ceiling alt= 47,790 ft
climb rate main= 41.6 m/s
climb rate alt= 8,200 ft/min
loading main=
loading alt=
thrust/weight= 0.515
power/mass main=
power/mass alt=
more performance=
armament=
* 2 × 23 mm Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 cannon
* 1 × 37 mm NL-37 cannon
avionics=

External links

* [http://www.ctrl-c.liu.se/misc/ram/la-168.html La-168] at the [http://www.ctrl-c.liu.se/misc/ram/index.html Russian Aviation Museum]