The First Flight of the Lavochkin La-15

Pilots!

The date was January 8, 1948. At an undisclosed location somewhere in the Soviet Union, a Lavochkin La-15 rolled out on the runway, and shortly thereafter made its first official flight marking its brief entry into the budding world of jet propulsion combat aircraft. Today we're honoring this flight by looking back at this particular aircraft, its impact on aviation history, as well as how it laid the groundwork for some of its predecessors. You can discuss this feature further by visiting the official History Spotlight: First Flight of the Lavochkin La-15 thread on our World of Warplanes forum.

The Concept

With the arrival of the jet engine, Soviet aircraft manufacturers quickly attempted to incorporate the technology into their own aircraft. Some used captured German technology; others used designs obtained from the United Kingdom.

Not to be left behind, the Lavochkin design bureau had a number of cracks at this new method of propulsion. The concepts, however, left something to be desired. As such, many of these early efforts incorporated an underbelly pod design similar to that of the more familiar Yak-15.

The last of these was the La-160 (pictured left). Though still far from a success, it did, however, incorporate a swept wing design that provided a basis for later creations.

The next attempt was far more successful. The La-168, also known as the Type 15, moved the engine -- now a Rolls-Royce Nene -- into the fuselage. The aircraft first flew in April 1948 and proved reasonably successful, with an endurance of over two hours, a top speed approaching Mach I, and a reasonable armament of two 23 mm cannons and one 37 mm.

However, it had one serious flaw: firing all three cannons at the same time at a high altitude would cause the canopy to disintegrate and have the unfortunate effect of the pilot blacking out. The test pilot, in this case, regained consciousness at about 12,000 feet and saved the aircraft. It was clear a redesign was going to be required.

Enter the La-15

In the meantime a second aircraft had been designed, this time around the Derwent engine: the La-172.

This was a little smaller than the La-168, and suffered several problems of its own. Most significant of these was the fact that it crashed. Undeterred by this, however, Lavochkin built a new design: the La-174D. ('D' apparently stands for ‘dubler’, meaning ‘replacement’, according to Avistar).

This design had greater success and worked well enough for the Soviets to place it into production, under the designation of La-15. Armed with three 23 mm cannons, it bore a very strong resemblance to its primary competitor, the far more famous MiG-15, and its shoulder-mounted wing was its easiest identification feature.

While its engine was a little less powerful, it was one of the first Soviet aircraft to have fully hydraulic flight controls and its overall design was said to have been very pilot-friendly and easy to fly (the pressurized cockpit didn't hurt). The downside was that it was complicated to manufacture and not quite as well armed as the MiG.

The Last of the La-15?

By 1949, La-15s were in operational service. The Soviet Air Force, however, decided to rationalize production and focus only on one fighter. Given the complexities of manufacturing the Lavochkin design, production was cut short at only a few hundred aircraft (figures vary between 280-500) with two twin-seater aircraft built as well.

Overall, its service life was fairly short. The benefits of having a small number of second designs in service, in addition to the MiG-15, were outweighed by the need to support it. So by 1954, the La-15s had been withdrawn from service with their engines stripped to help with the manufacturing of missiles.

There is, however, an intriguing footnote. A number of reports from the Korean War claim encounters with Type-15 fighters in addition to the MiG-15s in 1951 and 1952. They're very specific in distinguishing between the MiG-15 and the Type-15, and that these Type-15s were high-wing jets. Once such report dated on October 17, 1951 is very specific about these aircraft encounters. 

18. KOREA. UN fighter pilots’ observations of enemy aircraft: During the course of an encounter between 80 MIG-15 and 32 F-86’s in the Sinuiju-Slnanju area on the afternoon of 12 October, UN pilots observed the following:

 (1) One enemy aircraft in a flight was "a shoulder wing type and was believed to be a Type-15.” The UN aircraft passed within 100 feet of the enemy plane and observed the figure "1.” but no other markings.

(2) A MIG pilot was "wearing a dark colored, close fitting helmet. The enemy pilot also wore an oxygen mask but no goggles, and appeared to be light complexioned."

Comment: While still not confirmed, it is entirely possible that the enemy is employing the Type-15 for combat testing purposes and is attempting to conceal its presence among the more familiar MIG-15’s.

The La-15 was not Lavochkin’s last foray into the jet-design business, but it was the only successful one. A later creation like the La-250 looked particularly impressive, but was never good enough to enter production. Although the La-15 only had a five-year service life, its impact on combat aircraft design was enough so it won't be lost to history.

Sources and Further Reading

Wikipedia. "Lavochkin La-15." Accessed January 7, 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavochkin_La-15.

Russian Aviation Museum. "La-15 'Fantail' by S.A.Lavochkin." Accessed January 7, 2013. http://ram-home.com/ram-old/la-15.html.

Virtual Aircraft Museum. "Lavochkin La-15 - fighter." Accessed January 7, 2013. http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/la-15.php.

Central Intelligence Agency. "17 October 1951 Daily Digest." Accessed January 7, 2013. http://www.foia.cia.gov/KoreanWar/DailyReports/1951/1951-10-17b.pdf

Images

"Black and white photograph of La-172." Photo. Virtual Aircraft Museum Accessed January 7, 2013 <http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/la-172.php>.

"Black and white photograph of La-160." Photo. WWW.AVIATION.RU Accessed January 7, 2013 <http://www.aviation.ru/>.

"Black and white photograph of La-15." Photo. Corner of the sky - Big aircraft encyclopedia Accessed January 7, 2013 <http://airwar.ru/>.