The Lavochkin radial-engined fighters were the first Soviet fighter aircraft to at least be able to hold their own with the Fw-190 at low to medium altitudes - which was where most combat over the Eastern Front took place.  Along with the Yakovlev series, the Lavochkins were the backbone of the Soviet fighter arm, with 9,920 La-5s built between July 1942 and November 1944.

      Design of the La-5 series was difficult, inasmuch as it came from the inline-powered LaGG-3 and had to graft a 49.6-inch diameter M-82 radial to a fuselage designed to mount a 30.5-inch wide Klimov M-105 engine.  That it was done at all was due to the fact that the  1,676 hp of the M-82 was superior to the 1,100 hp M-105; the fact that it was underpowered was one of the main problems of the LaGG-3.

      With the additional power, the La-5 could carry a considerably heavier armament than the under-armed LaGG-3.  Rather than the two 50-caliber machine guns of the LaGG-3, the La-5 carried 2 20mm ShVAK cannons.

      The La-5FN (Forsirovanny Neprosredstvenno or "directly boosted) was powered by an 1,850 hp ASh-82FN engine that developed 150 more horsepower than the ASh-82F that powered earlier versions.  It was the first of the series to equal the performance of the Bf-109G-6, though it could only "hold its own" against the Fw-190.  It was particularly well-suited to a close-in, high-g maneuvering style of combat.

      The La-5FN first saw combat during the Battle of Kursk in July 1943.  It was a nasty surprise for the Luftwaffe.  The 14 La-5FNs of the 32nd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment took part in 25 aerial combats during July and August and claimed 33 German aircraft, including 21 Fw-190s and 3 Bf-109Gs.

      In May, 1944, twenty highly experienced Czechoslovakian Air Force pilots who had been discharged from the RAF and transferred to the Soviet Union, began to form the nucleus of an independent Czech fighter regiment when they commenced training on La-5FNs.  After 5 50-minute flights in an La-5UTI, they were deemed ready to solo in the La-5FN.  They saw combat after the Germans began taking over the territory of Slovakia on August 29, 1944.  The Slovak Army resisted the Germans, and by October 1944 the insurgent army numbered 50,000 troops and 7,000 partisans.  The area controlled by the insurgents was complete surround by German forces and was an isolated pocket deep in German-held territory.  The 1st Czech Fighter Regiment flew into Tri Duby airfield on September 21, 1944, with 21 fighters.  the following day they entered combat when the attacked the Luftwaffe airfield at Piestany and destroyed 10 aircraft.  Several other strafing attacks were conducted against German flying fields in the following days, which took the Germans completely by surprise.

      By October 25, 1944, the Germans were closing in on Tri Duby, and the air support bridge from the Soviet Union and U.S. forces in Italy was ended.  Eleven surviving La-5FNs took off that evening in hopes of reaching Soviet-controlled territory.  One was shot down over the Carpathians though the pilot was rescued and joined the partisans. Ten La-5FNs managed to reach airstrips in liberated Hungary, Romania and the Ukraine.  During a month of combat, the Czechs flew 573 sorties, destroying 13 German aircraft, as well as tow tanks, three AAA positions, three locomotives and 77 trucks.  Ten La-5FNs were lost, with three pilots killed in action. 

     The wooden La-5FN had not been built to last, and the aircraft quickly disappeared from the V-VS within two years of the end of the war.

     To date, there is only one injection-molded La-5FN kit offered, that by Hobbycraft.  The list of things wrong with the kit begins at the nose and ends at the tail; as it comes from the box, it cannot be built into anything remotely resembling an La-5FN.  I was able to take this kit and, by combining it with the wings and tail of the LTD limited-run LaGG-3 kit, come up with a model that more closely resembled the real airplane, but this was a major kit-bash.