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Lavochkin La-9
ZK-LIX c/n 828
Restored by Pioneer Aero Restorations
$850,000

Engine:                      Ash-82FN, 14 cylinder radial, 1850 hp
Max Speed:           690 km/h                      

Ceiling:                     11,130 m

Max Range:           1735 km

Wing Span:             9.8 m (32 ft 1 in)

Length:                    8.6 m (28 ft 2 in)

Empty Weight:      2,660 kg                     

Max Weight:          3,676 kg         

Armament:             4x 23mm NS-23 nose cannons
As well as provision for rockets and bombs                  

Lavochkin La-9 History
Information obtained by article in Classic Wings, Issue 40 written by Graham Orphan (see links below) and an independent article written by John King.

Development of the Lavochkin La-9 began in 1945.  The Lavochkin La-9 was the most powerful of the Loaochkin piston fighters. It was a follow-through of the La-7 which was a proven fighter at the time. The La-9 was redesigned with all structure being metal (as opposed to some of the wooden structure the La-7 carried). The removal of the wooden structure helped to lighten up the aircraft enough so that the aircraft could be fitted to carry substantially greater quantities of fuel and still not be much heavier than the La-7. The fuel capacity was increased to 825 liters and had an increased endurance of 4 hours 30 min. The wings were slightly more cut-off at the tips instead of the more elliptical tips of the previous fighters. Production tests began in June and finished in October, 1946.

In spite of the massive quantities originally produced, very few piston-engined fighter aircraft of the Soviet Union have survived. From the World War II era, only some rebuilt Polikarpov and recent-production Yakovlev fighters are airworthy today, while practically nothing remains of the many thousands of fighters from the design bureaux of Mikoyan, Gurevich (MiG) and Lavochkin. The result is that only a few Westerners are aware, even now, of the advances made in aircraft design by the secretive Soviets into the Cold War period.

Like the British with their Sea Fury and the Americans with the Bearcat and Twin Mustang, the Soviets went on to produce a last piston-engined fighter after World War II drew to a close. Some of these fighters flew in the Korean War as the Swansong of the propeller-driven combat aircraft. Unlike both the Bearcat and Sea Fury which survive and fly in some numbers today; only three examples of the superb Lavochkin fighter produced in the late 1940’ survive in the hands of private collectors in the English-speaking world.

The La-9, c/n 828 is the only one of the three that is currently flying.
Little is known of the service history of c/n 828, but it is understood to have been operated by the Air Force of the People’s Republic of China. As found, it retained all placards in Cyrillic script but had Chinese characters in the fuel tank bays. It may have taken part in the Korean War along with its later La-11 stable mates. Taken out of service around 1957, c/n 828 was taken into position by the Aeronautical University of Beijing. There the La-9 came to the attention of Ray Hanna, whose Duxford-based Old Flying Machine Company owned a broad spectrum of interesting fighter aircraft. A decade or more of perseverance, determination and protracted negotiation on Ray’s part, not to mention an ex-RAF Harrier as part exchange (and all the diplomatic procedures needed to release that to what was still regarded as an unfriendly country!), finally resulted in the delivery of the Lavochkin to Duxford in 1996. Apart from the instrument panel it was largely complete, and generally agreed, to be an excellent prospect for restoration to flying condition. 

Lavochkin La-9 Restoration
The engine and propeller were sent to the Czech Republic for overhaul, coordinated by Mark Petru. Avia rebuilt the propeller, and a blade forging was located in Kiev to replace a cracked item. 

The airframe was shipped to New Zealand to be rebuilt at Ardmore aerodrome, on the southern outskirts of Auckland, by Pioneer Aero Restorations which is best known world-wide for its P-40 rebuilds. Such a decision is not undertaken lightly, but Ray had worked with the company since it had restored his P-40E Kittyhawk NZ 3009 to airworthy condition. Indeed, Ray Hanna and Garth Hogan, Pioneer Aero Restorations proprietor, formed a partnership to own, work on and operate the La-9.

The lack of overhaul documentation was a great hindrance to the progress of work. Only one manual, a not well detailed operations service handbook, was available – and that was written in Russian! Photographs had been taken in the U.K. as the airframe was originally dismantled at Duxford, but the particularly important areas tended to be just out of photo frame. Fortunately, Stephen Grey, owner of a similar La-11, was willing to have technical people carefully examine his La-11 and thus parts and locations could be identified.

Structural work was mainly tidying up the airframe, although the center section spar caps and some lower skins and landing gear doors were replaced. It was, stated Garth Hogan, “in remarkably good shape for something not used for 40 years.”

Pioneer Aero Restorations has always strived to use original materials and specifications wherever possible in its Warbird rebuilds. In the case of the La-9, according to Garth, that included a “lot of stuff not used in the Western world. There’s much felt, imported from India and all the wiring is as done in Russia, wrapped in cloth or leather and hand stitched. It’s all done to original specs.”

Fuel capacity is 825 liters with two outer wing tanks of 65 liters each draining into center left and right tanks, with check valves preventing outward cross flow and fuel imbalance. From there the fuel feeds by gravity into the center tank in the lower fuselage, from where the engine is fed from a collector box. Tanks are aluminum, externally coated in rubber, not self-sealing, with exhaust gases taken from no. 8 cylinder pipe, scrubbed, dried, cooled and plumbed into each fuel tank.

The center tank had to be remade because of corrosion, as did the engine mount. All the cockpit Plexiglas and glass, yellowed over the years, was replaced. Control linkages were missing and had to be made, and even some bolts had to be reproduced to keep everything metric. Parts for the electrical, pneumatic and hydraulic systems had to be sourced from overseas. As is common with Eastern Bloc aircraft operated in harsh climates, many of the systems are pneumatic, but the undercarriage is worked by hydraulics with an emergency pneumatic backup. The oxygen bottle, now unused with the La-9’s lack of combat operations, has become a backup air bottle.

With no instrument panel and little documentation, the opportunity was taken to design a setup with ease of operation and safety in mind. John Lamont, who was to do most of the test and display flying, devised the panel layout and flight manual, with the help of Keith Skilling.

The fuel injector pump was unserviceable and another had to be sourced from Slovakia, and the engine was further delayed by floods in Prague. With the Czech Republic’s damage to its infrastructure that meant a big hold-up and little word, but the Ash-82FN radial finally arrived in New Zealand towards the end of November 2002.

Lavochkin La-9 Ready for Flight
First firing-up of the aircraft took place on January 28, 2003 and first flight with John Lamont in the cockpit, was two days later, wearing the colors it would last have flown with the PLAAF in China. 

After some test flying, the La-9 was dismantled once again and shipped back to Duxford for the 2003 display season in Europe. The color scheme had to be changed, however. The Chinese scheme had been approved by the New Zealand CAA, but a Warbird in the U.K. must have the permission of a foreign government to be able to be flown in its colors. Despite strenuous efforts, no response had come from the Chinese, but the Russians responded with prompt and eager readiness and so the La-9 spent its European season in Soviet colors.

Unfortunately, the Northern Hemisphere airshow performance was hampered by an over-rich mixture provided by the fuel injector pump, and the La-9 was unable to show its paces as the fastest piston-engined Warbird flying. That was later traced and corrected, and by the time the fighter appeared at Warbirds Over Wanaka during Easter weekend 2004, full performance had been restored.

The La-9, still the only of its type currently flying, is an impressive example of postwar fighter technology, produced at a time when the first jet-powered aircraft were not a great deal faster.

In Ray Hanna’s own words: “From my personal experience, it is superior in all respects when compared to the Bearcat and Sea Fury. It performs like an early generation jet with a piston engine and propeller.”

SPECIFICATIONS SUBJECT TO VERIFICATION UPON INSPECTION
   
Click here for Classic Wings, Issue 40 LA9 Article, Page 1
Click here for Classic Wings, Issue 40 LA9 Article, Page 2
Click here for Classic Wings, Issue 40 LA9 Article, Page 3
Click here for Classic Wings, Issue 40 LA9 Article, Page 4

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Counter Re-Posted September 27, 2007