The Lavochkin La-152,All Lavochkin's jet aircraft were referred to in-house, and at government level, as "''Izdeliye'' (Item or Product) 152", etc. (

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

reporting name - Type 4),Parsch, Andreas and Aleksey V. Martynov
"Designations of Soviet and Russian Military Aircraft and Missiles."
''designation-systems.net,'' 2008. Retrieved: 19 August 2011. and its variants, was a jet fighter prototype designed and manufactured by the

Lavochkin NPO Lavochkin (russian: НПО Лавочкина, OKB-301, also called Lavochkin Research and Production Association or shortly Lavochkin Association, LA) is a Russian aerospace company. It is a major player in the Russian space program, being th ...

Design Bureau OKB is a transliteration of the Russian initials of "" – , meaning 'experiment and design bureau'. During the Soviet era, OKBs were closed institutions working on design and prototyping of advanced technology, usually for military application ...

(OKB) shortly after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Derived from the Lavochkin La-150, the 152 used several different engines, but the program was canceled as other fighters with more powerful engines and swept wings showed more promise.

Design and development

''Izdeliye'' 152

Following the limited success of the 150, drastic changes were introduced to improve performance and ease of maintenance. The RD-10 engine, rated at of thrust, was moved to the front of the nose and its cowling formed the bottom of the forward fuselage. This position minimized thrust losses due to the length of the intake duct and allowed the engine to be changed much more easily than its predecessor. The cockpit was widened and moved to a position over the mid-set wings, even with the engine's exhaust nozzle. The pilot's seat back was armored and he was protected by an armor plate to his front and a bulletproof

windscreen The windshield (North American English) or windscreen (Commonwealth English) of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike, truck, train, boat or streetcar is the front window, which provides visibility while protecting occupants from the elements. Mo ...

. Three fuel tanks were positioned ahead of the cockpit and one behind it with a total capacity of of fuel. The removable, mid-mounted wings used several different laminar flow airfoils over their span. Each wing had a single

spar SPAR, originally DESPAR, styled as DE SPAR, is a Dutch multinational that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well, ...

, slotted flaps and ailerons. The

tricycle undercarriage Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle g ...

retracted into the fuselage, which meant that the aircraft had a very narrow ground track. The aircraft was armed with three

Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 The NS-23 was a aircraft cannon designed by A. E. Nudelman, A. Suranov, G. Zhirnykh, V. Nemenov, S. Lunin, and M. Bundin during World War II as a replacement for the Volkov-Yartsev VYa-23 cannon. It entered service in 1944. The NS-23 round was d ...

autocannon, two on the starboard side of the aircraft's nose and the other on the port side. Each gun had 50 rounds of ammunition.Gordon 2002, pp. 109, 112. The 152 made its first flight on 5 December 1946 and the manufacturer's trials completed on 23 June 1947. State acceptance trials commenced on 12 July, but the prototype crashed on the eighth flight when the engine failed on approach. The maximum speed attained by the 152 before its crash was only .

''Izdeliye'' 154

The Lavochkin OKB decided to improve the performance of the 152 in late 1946 by replacing the RD-10 engine with a more powerful Lyulka TR-1 turbojet of thrust. The design work was completed in September 1947, and construction began of a prototype shortly afterward, but the engine was not yet ready for testing and the project was canceled. The only other significant difference from the 152 was that each cannon was furnished with 75 rounds of ammunition.Gordon 2002, pp. 109–110, 112.

''Izdeliye'' 156

Meanwhile, the OKB had been developing two

afterburning An afterburner (or reheat in British English) is an additional combustion component used on some jet engines, mostly those on military supersonic aircraft. Its purpose is to increase thrust, usually for supersonic flight, takeoff, and combat ...

versions of the RD-10 to increase the engine's power. The more successful model was only longer and weighed an additional more than the original engine. Its power, however, was increased by an additional , over 30% more thrust. This engine was designated the ''izdeliye YuF'' by the bureauConfusingly, some sources refer to both this engine and Yakovlev's afterburning version of the RD-10 as RD-10Fs, although they had two different afterburner designs. and was fitted into an aircraft 152 prototype in November 1946, initially designated as the 150D (''Dooblyor'' - Second). This was changed to Aircraft 156 the following month. In addition to the more powerful engine, the aircraft now had an

ejection seat In aircraft, an ejection seat or ejector seat is a system designed to rescue the pilot or other crew of an aircraft (usually military) in an emergency. In most designs, the seat is propelled out of the aircraft by an explosive charge or rock ...

, additional cockpit armor, and a revised

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an ...

. More importantly, it was fitted with new wings with a greater span and more surface area; they also had a new airfoil designed to delay

Mach tuck Mach tuck is an aerodynamic effect whereby the nose of an aircraft tends to pitch downward as the airflow around the wing reaches supersonic speeds. This diving tendency is also known as tuck under. The aircraft will first experience this effect ...

. The area of the

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyropla ...

and the

vertical stabilizer A vertical stabilizer or tail fin is the static part of the vertical tail of an aircraft. The term is commonly applied to the assembly of both this fixed surface and one or more movable rudders hinged to it. Their role is to provide control, s ...

was also increased. Two prototypes were built and the first one was completed in February 1947 and made its first flight on 1 March. The second prototype joined the manufacturer's trials later that month. One of these aircraft participated in the

Tushino Tushino ( rus, Тушино, p=ˈtuʂɨnə) is a former village and town to the north of Moscow, which has been part of the city's area since 1960. Between 1939 and 1960, Tushino was classed as a separate town. The Skhodnya River flows across the ...

flypast A flypast is a ceremonial or honorific flight by an aircraft or group of aircraft. The term flypast is used in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. In the United States, the terms flyover and flyby are used. Flypasts are often tied in wi ...

on 3 August 1947, where it was given the USAF reporting name of Type 5. The additional power increased the aircraft's top speed by over the 152. The second prototype began state acceptance trials on 9 September and demonstrated a maximum speed of at an altitude of . It could reach in four minutes using afterburner. The aircraft was rejected by the

Soviet Air Forces The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...

when the trials were concluded on 28 January 1948. The report said that the ''YuF'' engine was required more work before it was ready for production, the aircraft had problems with longitudinal stability, excessive stick forces from the ailerons and

elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They a ...

s, and the undercarriage was troublesome. Lavochkin consequently canceled the program.

''Izdeliye'' 174TK

An experimental version of ''Izdeliye'' 156 was built in 1947 under the name of ''Izdeliye'' 174TK (''Tonkoye Krylo'' - thin wing). It had a very thin, straight wing of 6% thickness, believed to be the thinnest yet flown in the world, and an imported Rolls-Royce Derwent V engine, rated at , mounted in the nose. The three NS-23 cannon had to be repositioned on the bottom of the nose to accommodate the engine. It was first flown in January 1948 and had a top speed of at

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. It reached an altitude of 5,000 meters in only 2.5 minutes, but even these impressive gains over the 156 were inferior to the swept-wing

Lavochkin La-160 The Lavochkin La-160, known as ''Strelka'' (Arrow), was the first Soviet swept-winged jet fighter research prototype. It was designed and manufactured by the Lavochkin Design Bureau from 1946. USAF reporting name - Type 6 Design and development ...

that had flown nine months earlier and the program was canceled.

Variants

* ''Izdeliye'' 154 - A second 152 airframe with a Lyulka TR-1 turbojet. Canceled due to delays with the engine. * ''Izdeliye'' 156 - Originally known as Aircraft 152D. A modified 152 with a ''YuF'' engine, an

version of the RD-10.Gordon 2002, pp. 106–107, 109–110, 113–114 * ''Izdeliye'' 174TK - A thin-wing version of the 156 with a Rolls-Royce Derwent engine, but performance was already overshadowed by the lower-powered Aircraft 160 so further development abandoned.Gunston 1995, p. 168.

Specifications (''Izdeliye'' 156)

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Gordon, Yefim. ''Early Soviet Jet Fighters''. Hinckley, Leicestershire, UK: Midland, 2002. . * Green, William and Gordon Swanborough. ''The Complete Book of Fighters''. London: Salamander Books, 1994. . * Gunston, Bill. ''The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1875–1995''. London: Osprey, 1995. . {{Soviet straight-winged jet fighters La-152 1940s Soviet fighter aircraft Single-engined jet aircraft Mid-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1946