Lavochkin La-150

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lavochkin La-150 was the Lavochkin bureau's response to Joseph Stalin's order of February 1945 to design and build a single-seat jet fighter around a Junkers Jumo 004B turbojet.

The La-150 was of distinctive pod-and-boom layout with a shoulder-mounted wing. Like the competitive designs from the Mikoyan-Gurevich and Yakovlev bureau, the La-150 was awarded a prototype/pre-series aircraft order, the first of the prototypes flying in September 1946 powered by the Soviet derivative of the Jumo engine, the RD-10 rated at 900kg. Unique among first-generation Soviet jet fighters in having a fuselage-mounted undercarriage, the La-150 featured a somewhat complex, overly robust and heavy structure and was, in consequence, underpowered. Excessive dihedral effect resulting from the wing positioning was rectified on the second prototype by drooping the wingtips, but excessive oscillation of the tail surfaces at high speeds resulting from inadequate stiffness of the tailboom could not be overcome. In the event, only five airframes were completed. Armament comprised two 23mm NS-23 cannon.