Word: lavochkin
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
That morning the Cathay airliner was at 2,700 m in clear sky, some 30 km off Hainan's east coast. At about 8:40 a.m., two Chinese fighters suddenly appeared. The aircraft were later identified as Lavochkin LA-7s, Soviet-built prop-driven fighters. For no apparent reason, the planes opened machine-gun and cannon fire. The DC-4's captain Philip Blown tried evasive action, hurling the DC-4 into a steep dive. But the airliner kept taking hits. Syd's Pirates: A Story of an Airline (Durnmount, 1983), by retired Cathay senior captain Charles "Chic" Eather, documents...
More important, a handful of talented Russian aircraft designers-led by Mikoyan, Lavochkin and Yakovlev-rose to the occasion, producing fighters that were rugged and maneuverable, though still second-rate planes by German and U.S. standards. The best ones were derived from Western models. But in tactical air, the defense-conscious Russians took a back seat to no one. One of the best ground attack planes of World War II, the armor-plated Stormovik, came off the drawing board of another Russian, Sergei Iliushin. German Panzer divisions called it "the black death." In one ten-day period, the Stormoviks knocked...
...Lavochkin), long-range stablemate of the MIG-15. Speed, 625-650 m.p.h.; rate of climb, 6,600 ft. a min.; ceiling, 45,000 ft.; range, about 2,000 miles; armament, two 20-, 32-, or 37-mm. cannon. Late models have rocket boosts in the tail for extra speed and night fighter's radar in the nose...
...Lavochkin). Twin-jet night fighter carrying pilot and radarman. Speed, about 570 m.p.h.; rate of climb, unknown; ceiling, unknown; range, about 2,200 miles; armament, two nose-mounted 32-mm. cannon plus two 12.7-mm. machine guns. Russia's No. 1 night fighter. Production limited, but being stepped...
...Semen A. Lavochkin, 51, rumpled, plodding builder of the LA series of Red fighters (the initials, as in all Russian planes, come from the designer's name). Son of a rabbi, he learned his trade for ten years, got his big chance after the late '30s purges, finally hit pay dirt in 1943 with his light, highly maneuverable LA5 ("The wooden savior of Stalingrad"). Now working on long-range, single-jet escort fighters (LA-17) and twin-jet night fighters...