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A would like to ask a question.
La 7 weas faster at SL than K-4 1,8. According to Corsing s datas 11mph , according to Juha s wishes 29mph
1) Both aircrafts HAVE 1850 HP
2) la 7 has very good cowling surface but a RADIAL engine while K-4 an in line engine.
3) La7 has a bubble canopy , which is useful but druggier than the classic canopy of the K-4
4)La 7 has a wing surface of 17,59 m2 vs 16,05m2 of the K-4
5) Both aircrafts have fuselages of similar size, fully covered landing gear , and generally are well streamlined
6) La 7 has 3 20mm gun ports on the nose. K4 has two 13mm openings
7) All russian fighters use rather outmoded wing profiles( i think so,if wrong correct me)
The question is: Where the speed advantage of La 7 comes from? the difernce, according to juha , is almost 50Km/h!!!
propellers efficiencies deont explain anything. K4 had a brand new desigh and even if La 7 s was even better the 29mph gap is huge to be explaned by propellers efficiencies alone
And the phenomenon gets even better. K4 ,even with 2000ps, is still much slower. Even if careful construction is achieved ,and K4 gets the 12 kph bonus reported in Kurfusts site, still is far behind La 7
Even the better supercharger of K4 , which provides better power curve ,fails to provide k4 with a speed anywhere near the La 7 before the medium altitudes area.
Any logical explanation?
PS Even the allien P51 in order to achieve speeds similar to la 7s needs laminar flow wing, very advanced cooling system design, exceptional construction quality, super-duper fuels and sometimes sanding.
Juha,
God bless you. I've already started to do a work up on the DB and DC engined K-4 and will post as soon as I can but right now work tomorrow is calling me so I have to go to bed. God bless you all and have a good night. I'll see what I can do about terrorizing you all tomorrow. And by the way Juha you are probably right, its just that German junk throws me off, from time to time.
The question is: Where the speed advantage of La 7 comes from? the difernce, according to juha , is almost 50Km/h!!!
5) Both aircrafts have fuselages of similar size, fully covered landing gear , and generally are well streamlined
6) La 7 has 3 20mm gun ports on the nose. K4 has two 13mm openings
propellers efficiencies deont explain anything. K4 had a brand new desigh and even if La 7 s was even better the 29mph gap is huge to be explaned by propellers efficiencies alone
...
La-7 had a new propeller. It would be interesting to see an engine power graph for both models. The supercharger critical altitude could be different in both models.
7) All russian fighters use rather outmoded wing profiles( i think so,if wrong correct me)
how to copy from one sight post on another.
I'd like to throw in something here. The Bf / Me 109 was pretty outdated by the time of the K-4. It was a superlative digfighter at 180 - 290 mph, but was losing a lot when faster than 320 mph. At 400+ mph, it wasn't fighting at all ... it was running TO a fight or FROM a fight, but was definitely not maneuvering IN a fight. It was barely controllable at 450 mph and the pilot was almost unable to change directions at that speed.
The same cannot be said for some of the competition.
I really like the 109, but a fast dogfighter it wasn't.