LaGG-1/3 - Poor Build Quality???

[Denniss]

AFAIR he tried to killed Lavochkin production in Gorky, switching them over to Yaks. A conversion was even started but the Lavochkin team was able to demonstrate the La-5 and its huge potential so the conversion was axed.
Smells like Yakovlev was to Stalin what Willy was to Hitler/Göring, a political protegee.

 

[tomo pauk]

Gordon and Khazanov do mention that Yakovlev was trying to spread out the photographs of, allegedly, messed up production lines where the LaGGs were built, while also spreading out the photographs of the 'surgical-room-tidy' lines where the Yaks were built.

 

[Juha]

AFAIR he tried to killed Lavochkin production in Gorky, switching them over to Yaks. A conversion was even started but the Lavochkin team was able to demonstrate the La-5 and its huge potential so the conversion was axed.
Smells like Yakovlev was to Stalin what Willy was to Hitler/Göring, a political protegee.

Yakolev was even more IIRC he was also a deputy minister of a/c production during the war and was ready to use this position to advance his own designs.

 

[bobbysocks]

the main problem with the m-16 in viet nam was the gun was designed to use a different powder than what the us was currently using. this was noted in the specs and used at trails. when they issued them to the troops however someone made the decision the decision to use wrong powder in the 5.56 ammo. it was dirtier powder which tended to foul up the rifle. add into this that cleaning kits were in short supply....many GIs wrote home asking for toothbrushes and gun oil. and lastly but not leastly many GIs were not instructed ( or properly instructed ) in proper assembly of the compents after cleaning. there are 3 rings on the bolt that have gaps...and like piston rings...the gaps on these rings need to be spaced at 120 degree interval...if they are not the gas system will fail to preform properly. once they got these issues ironed out the gun worked well. i will say the 22 cal is not the best "brush round" but it is way more controllable when fired full auto as opposed to 7.62 ( m-14 ). if you have ever fired both you in a standing position you understand.

 

[CORSNING]

Piper106,

The first batch of production LaGG-3s were produced at the State Aircraft Factory plant 23 in Leningrad. Great care was taken in their manufacturing. 54 production LaGG-3s were manufactured before the factory had to be evacuated in mid-1941. They were of good quality (for the time in the USSR). Their maximum speed of 576 km/h (357 mph) at 5,000 meters and maximum climb rate of 2,953 fpm would not be equaled by other combat LaGG-3s until the summer of 1942. These particular aircraft did not see combat until 24 September 1941

Plant 21 in Gorkii manufactured the first LaGG-3s to see combat. These were of very poor quality because the plant was geared to manufacture I-16s. Manufacturing the LaGG-3 was a radical change for them (major woodworking). The new technology of the use of phenol-impregnated wood was completely foreign to them. Speed fell to about 330-335 mph and climb rate suffered also.

In March 1941 Plant 31 in Tagonrog under Gorbunov began to produce LaGG-3s. He and his staff constantly looking for way to lighten the aircraft. They made constant changes during manufacturing. These aircraft were of fair quality.

In July 1941 Plant 153 in Novosibirsk began producing the LaGG-3 Series 4. These were of the poorest finish and poorest construction of all.

Throughout 1941 at no time did production of the LaGG-3 at the various factories actually resemble any sort of standard. They were all guilty of high control column forces and poor maneuverability. They were said to have good control harmony though. Hydraulic system failures plagued the design. The LaGG-3 did not have leading edge wing slats at this time and severe stalling characteristics restricted dog-fighting capabilities for inexperienced pilots. Some batches of Soviet Plexiglas were so opaque that pilots flew with the canopy open and even removed. That was detrimental to speed.

The only advantage the LaGG-3 held over the Bf 109 at this time was a slightly tighter turning circle. It could survive a lot of battle damage. That's very little consolation though.

I hope that clears up your question some, Jeff

 

[Shortround6]

A problem for both the Lagg-1/3 and the Yak is that they were intended to use the M-106 engine (development started in 1938 ) but it's troublesome development meant that lower powered versions of the M-105 had to be used instead. This lead to some rather frantic weight cutting and short term power boost solutions to the M-105 engines to try to get back to the 'estimated' original performance.
It may be that internal aerodynamics were not well understood in Russia at the time either as a number of aircraft had problems with over heating if running with radiator/oil cooler shutters closed ( to be fair a few western planes had similar troubles) . This affected service speeds vs prototype trial speeds.

 

[GrauGeist]

...to be fair a few western planes had similar troubles...

First example that comes to mind, is the P-40...