Best Russian Fighter

[Glider]

The Russians used the I16 and the I153 in Manchuria in the mid 1930's and beet the Japenese which was a pretty good effort.

 

[Chocks away!]

Yep deadly serious 8)

I just added you to my contacts btw-Need to learn 8)

 

[P38 Pilot]

I dont know anything about Russian Planes because they were kinda outdated.

But when the cold war started, and the Russians built the MiG 15, air combat got a whole lot harder.

I just voted for the Yak-9 and got it over with.

 

[Stupid]

The Yak-3!! It was probably the most manueverable fighter of WWII, and made short work of my Grandfather, (who was a expeirenced fighter bomber pilot). there also way cooler looking then the La-7 in my opinion and was available earlier.

 

[Soren]

The Yak-3, a very nimble little fighter, but at a loss as altitude increased.

 

[Burmese Bandit]

Yep, the seven for me too. Other russian fighters were good - some very good - but way, way too undergunned...except the La-7.

But IMHO the reason why all russian fighters were, usually, poor can be summed up in one word..

GUNSIGHTS. Or the lack thereof.

 

[Juha]

Hello
to me La-5FN and La-7.
In 1944 against FAF Bf 109Gs La-5Fs/FNs were clearly more dangerous opponents than Yak-9s. The latter was appr. as dangerous opponent to FAF Bf 109Gs as P-39N/Q.

Juha

 

[Burmese Bandit]

BTW I seem to have read somewhere that Ole Sasha Porykyshin actually did nearly ALL his kills on Cobras and Kingcobras instead of 1/3 in La-7s as is officially credited...and the reason is that he considered Soviet fighters to be undergunned and with lousy gunsighting, for which outspokeness he was quietly punished postwar by the Soviet Regime! Plus their falsifying his stats!

 

[Juha]

Burmese Bandit
Soviet fighters had reflector gunsights

Juha

 

[Burmese Bandit]

Yes - only in 1944 - and even then, if you weren't a guards air regiment, you would be lucky if half your polk had reflector gunsights!

 

[Erich]

best Russian fighter.......there isn't one

 

[Juha]

Hello BB
now at least some of those MiG-3s which crashed on Finnish soil in summer 41 had PBP-1a reflector gunsights and all those three war-booty early LaGG-3s which FAF used also had PBP-1a reflector gunsights.

Juha

 

[FLYBOYJ]

best Russian fighter.......there isn't one

 

[KrazyKraut]

La-7 for me. It was a very good plane for eastern front conditions. Well designed and well armed. Not too demanding on the pilot either. The only problem is the overuse of wood, but that was a non-issue back in those days.

Late versions of the Yak-9 were also good.

 

[Burmese Bandit]

Juha, the MiG-3 was the 'star' of the VVS from birth, designed to be flown be elite pilots and given the best of (imported) equipment...

Erich Harmann and others reported that 90% of the russian fighters they met in 1941 and the great majority in 1942 had no gunsights at all, only an "X" marked on the windshield! Only in 1943 did gunsights begin to be a common occurence on russian aircraft.

 

[Juha]

Hello BB
now MiG-3 was the most numerous "new" fighter type in June 41 and PBP-1 was Soviet made sight, strongly influenced by Revi 3 IIRC.

Bubi Hartmann didn't met a single Russian fighter in 1941 and in any case it was/is a bit difficult for fighter pilots to see what kind of sight the enemy has/had. And it's odd that those fighters which crashed behind Finnish lines had reflector sights if they were not common in VVS when one remembers that most of the time Finnish Front was a side show to Russians.

Juha

 

[Burmese Bandit]

I said "and others" in my post, Juha. Other sites, wiki for example, echo this statement. The analysis of Russian fighters came, AFAIK, from the numerous examples investigated in 41 and 42.

 

[KrazyKraut]

I guess this is a faulty conclusion drawn by some historians because a lot of ground attack Il-2s indeed did not have reflector gunsights. They probably thought this must be true for the whole VVS. There's more myth than truth in it.

 

[kool kitty89]

Juha, were older Russian fighters (I-16 and I-153) captured by the Finns equipped with reflector sights?

 

[Juha]

Hello KK
At least the first I-16 taken over by FAF, captured during Winter War (30.11.39-13.3.40) had reflector sight. Also according to a technical description of I-153 electrical system, its gun sight needed electricity, so in all probability it also had reflector sight.

I don't have time to do any deeper study right now but it is my understanding that from Type 10 onwards I-16s had reflector sight as also all I-153s.

Juha