Lavochkin La-152

Lavochkin Aircraft 152
Role	Jet Fighter
National origin	U.S.S.R.
Manufacturer	Lavochkin
Designed by	Semyon Alekseyevich Lavochkin
First flight	5th December 1946
Number built	1 x 152, 1 x 154(not completed), 2 x 156
Developed from	Aircraft 150

Aircraft 152, USAF reporting name - Type 4, and its variants, was a jet fighter prototype designed and manufactured by the Lavochkin Design Bureau from 1945.^[1]

Contents 1 Design and development 2 History 3 Variants 4 Specifications (Aircraft 156)

Design and development

Following the limited success of Lavochkin Aircraft 150, drastic changes were introduced to improve performance and ease of maintenance. The engine was moved to the front of the nose with the cockpit sat above the removable mid-set wings and the exhaust beneath the wings. This arrangement also facilitated maintenance of the engine and eased changes of engine type. The undercarriage attached to the fuselage, and retracted into the fuselage, in similar fashion to many German jet fighter projects such as the Messerschmitt P.1101.^[1]

History

Flight trials were progressing well with manufacturers trials completed om 23rd of June 1947. State acceptance trials commenced on 12th July . Aircraft 152 crashed on the eightth flight of these trials when the engine failed on approach.^[1] Development continued with "Aircraft 154", "Aircraft 156", "Aircraft 160", and "Aircraft 174TK" (no relation to "Aircraft 174" and "Aircraft 174D"). The afterburning "YuF", used in the "156" and "160", was developed separately from the "RD-10F" developed for Yakovlev's early jet fighters.

Variants

• Aircraft 154 - A second 152 airframe intended to have a Lyul'ka TR-1 turbojet. Major delays with the TR-1 forced cancellation.^[1]

• Aircraft 156 (USAF reporting name - Type 5) - Originally known as Aircraft 152D (dooblyor - second prototype). Design work started on 22nd November 1946, on what was a modified 152 with a YuF afterburning RD-10. As well as the afterburning engine the 156 had improved wings, an ejection seat and cockpit armour.^[1]

• Aircraft 174TK (Tonkoye Krylo - thin wing) A purely experimental version of Aircraft 156, with a 6% thickness straight wing, (very thin in 1947), Rolls-Royce Derwent engine in the nose instead of under the wing, giving its distinctive bulged nose. First flown in January 1948, flight trials were successful, but performance was already overshadowed by the lower powered Aircraft 160 so further development abandoned.^[2]

Specifications (Aircraft 156)

Data from Gordon,Yefim. Early Soviet Jet Fighters. Midland Publishing. Hinkley. ISBN 1 85780 139 3

General characteristics

• Crew: One
• Capacity: 1
• Length: 29 ft 11 in (9.12 m)
• Wingspan: 27 ft 11.43 in (8.52 m)
• Wing area: 142.36 ft² (13.24 m²)
• Empty weight: 5,608 lb (2,544 kg)
• Gross weight: 7,672 lb (3,480 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × YuF afterburning RD-10, 1,984 lbf (8.83 kN)dry, 2,425 lbf (10.8 kN) with afterburner

Performance

• Maximum speed: 559.8 mph (900 km/h)
• Range: 385 miles (620 km)
• Endurance: 1 hours  5 min
• Service ceiling: 32,808 ft (10,000 m)
• Rate of climb: 4,526 ft/min (23 m/s)

Armament

• 3 x NS-23 23mm Cannon with 190 rounds total

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