La-7 plane analysis
Soviet's latewar Lavochkin fighter
Click here to see the Youtube video review with commentary&gameplay
Introduction:
Unlocked at level 12 in the Russian trajectory, the La7 is a lightweight fighter able to compete even against the strongest piston engined opposition. A plane very much in line with what is expected from a Soviet fighter - light, quick, maneouverable, with great acceleration and climbrate but somewhat lacking at high altitudes, the Lavochkin certainly lives up to it's history in War Thunder.
It's combination of acceleration and climbrate with some really exceptional maneouverability make this plane a really dangerous opponent to go against, and a trustable and enjoyable ride for whoever flies it. A La7 engaged in close quarter fights at low altitudes is almost guaranteed to come on top of opposition - it is simply outstanding there.
General description:
The Lavochkin La-7 is a low wing single engine fighter with a traditional configuration. Very similar in appearance to the La5FN, it actually is a direct evolution of the latter.
Sporting cleaner aerodynamics and the same engine than the La5FN the La7 was both faster and somewhat better at climbing while retaining the lighweightness and nimbleness that characterized the La5 series, and it does so in War Thunder aswell.
Powered by a Shvetsov Ash-82FN 1850hp 14 cylinder radial engine, and weighing around 3.4 tons at normal takeoff weight, the La-7 enjoys a superb power to weight ratio, which gives the plane it's trademark great climb and acceleration. However the lack of a good enough supercharger somewhat hinders the performance of this plane as the altitudes increase - but even then at high altitudes this soviet fighter performs well enough to remain highly competitive.
Mounting two 20mm Shvak cannons in the cowling, syncronized to fire through the propeller's disc with 170 rounds per gun, this fighter has enough firepower to bring enemy fighters down in relatively short bursts, thank to the excellent grouping of the shots. And the ammo load is decent enough to give plenty of firing time to get multiple kills.
The biggest strenght of the La7 is without a doubt it's low altitude performance, something very according to Soviet doctrine of the time. However this is seriously misunderstood by many players who think they should stay at low altitudes and never climb - a terribly wrong concept that costs them (and their teams) dearly as soon as contact with higher enemies is established. Soviet teams in HB, in general terms, are the ones with tougher times, just because the playerbase doesn't understand that having an excellent plane down low doesn't mean they can't bring the fight up there against the enemy. The results of such a lack of understanding of tactics usually aren't pretty to see.
Maneouverability:
One of the brightest features of the Lavochkin series in general was the maneouverability of their planes. Sporting excellent rollrate and very good turn rate and radius this plane certainly lets noone down. Wing loading is noticeably lower than in most fighters of it's level and as a result it's a great stallfighter, something that allows for some really great defensive options when attacked, and allows for very sharp maneouvers on the offensive.
Control surfaces are very good up to very high speed. Pitch,roll and yaw authority are nothing short of spectacular at all the speeds this plane can fly at without flutter. The balance is supreme and the ability to do shot corrections is insane.
Compounding to it's great controls and low wingloading is how nimble the plane feels. In no moment you get the feeling of sloppiness that other fighters get, or you feel gimped at all. It's not just that the plane maneouvers very well and controls very well , is that it gives a great "feeling" of controllability. Truly a joyful ride to bring into combat.
Performance:
Performance wise the La7 is really really strong. While not being in the 2000+hp powerband most of the opposition at level 12 or above enjoys, the La7 doesn't need it either. Being a lightweight aircraft (a La7 with full fuel tanks and ammo weighs less than 3400 kg) the engine gives it some really great performances indeed.
Acceleration and climb are just spectacular - at least at low altitudes. Speed is also great. However it is to be noted that the engine loses power fast once it goes over 4500m and climb/acceleration decrease sharply from that point upward. However the initial climb is so quick and fast that direct approaches to the battlefield can be used to good measure, even while spending some time climbing away at the game start is always encouraged to reach the combat zone as high as possible.
The acceleration and climb of the La7 make it an excellent energy fighter. "vampire energy" tactics work really well against planes with lesser capabilities in those. In this style the La7 uses it's amazing climb and acceleration to build an energetic superiority over the enemy and use said superiority to force and continously keep the enemy in the defensive and under pressure so he can't use his own (lower) climb and acceleration to strike back. Eventually the enemy fighter will run out of speed, altitude, or both, and will be left out of options to avoid the deadly stream of 20mm gunfire coming it's way.
Speed wise the plane is very fast at all altitudes - but specially so at low ones. That speed can be used for good measure for fast withdrawals or to follow on escaping enemies, catch them and overpower them.
Energy keeping and high speed performance:
This is the true achilles heel of this plane and a price it pays for being as light as it is. Given it's lightweight nature the La7 is not suited for BnZ combat - it simply lacks terminal dive acceleration and isn't effective enough in trading speed for altitude, or altitude for speed, as real, heavyweight, boom and zoomers do.
Compounding that problem is that the Lavochkin series up to v.1.33 of War Thunder have a redline of 640kph IAS only. Over that speed the plane will flutter with extreme violence making controlled flight extremely hard and accurate shooting wishful thinking. This really puts a serious handicap on the plane as when engaging much lower enemies it has to dump most of the speed it gains during the dive to remain within controllable limits.
With V.1.35 of War Thunder, however, a Flight Model change will be introduced that will allow the Lavochkin family planes to reach 720-740kph IAS before suffering from major flutter - solving this issue and making the plane much better at engaging much lower enemies.
However the baseline remains : the La7 is not good in energy keeping because it simply is too light to compete in an equal footing with other, much heavier, planes. Dive is subpar and Zoom climb ability is poor and will remain so after the fix.
Firepower&Weapons:
The level 12 La-7 carries two synchronized ShVak 20mm autocannons (the level 13 La-7B carries three B-20s). While this might be seen as not that good firepower, one has to keep in mind that those are still 20mm, and that they are cowling mounted making convergence issues pretty much irrelevant, and guaranteeing an amazing grouping. In almost every situation, hitting with one cannon means that you're also hitting with the other too while other planes with heavier weaponry spread all over the wing have problems with weapon grouping out of convergence.
Convergences as a result is just down to selecting how the weapon drop will be like. 500m is a solid balanced choice here, and realistically speaking convergence is just a nonexistant issue with this plane.
Ammo belt choice is, from a personal point of view, also a matter of personal tastes. Having tried all the different belts I found no real difference in how fast kills were achieved - they all were pretty fast. The damage dealing potential of the plane is very good and the belts are mostly rounded up to be very balanced. Universal works extremely well, so does stealth and Ground targets. Antiarmor loses some of it's punch against fighters to allow for killing some lightly armored ground targets. While viable I wouldn't reccomend it - the La7 is suited for being a fighter, ground targets should be left alone for the bombers and attackers to take.
The La7 can mount two 100kg bomb racks - which are pretty much useless for any practical purpose other than dragging your plane down. Just ignore the option exists.
Tactics:
Tactics when using this plane should be centered around the La7's main assets and it's biggest drawbacks. The plane sports excellent maneouverability, climb and acceleration, but can't dive and zoom well and loses performance as it's goes up.
The ideal tactic is to engage the enemy as high as possible and use the maneouverability to beat him - failing that try to engage in close quarters and gradually drag the fight gradually to lower levels where your engine power will increase dramatically and your stronger asset -acceleration and climb- come strongly into play. Once that's achieved, the fight is virtually won as ,at low altitudes, this plane sports the best combination of acceleration and maneouverability in the whole planeset, even besting the whole 109 family.
On 1 v 1 engagements use vampire-tactics. Use your energy building ability and great maneouverability to keep the pressure on the enemy and force him to remain on the defensive, bleeding his energy in avoiding maneouvers, while you keep your energy up thanks to that brutal energetic input your high powerloading gifts you. If you fail to score strong hits while pressuring the enemy, no worries, as the long term result is always the same: once low/slow enough, the enemy will be ripe off for the taking.
If forced on the defensive or subjected to an attack, use the maneouverability to do sharp avoidances. The La7 is arguably stronger in rolling scissors than even a Fw190, making this a top class defensive move to use against attacking enemies. Once an overshoot is achieved it'll be time to straighten the plane and use that acceleration and climb to turn tables on the enemy.
On the offensive just use that climbrate to stay avobe things, select your enemies smartly and bounce them at will. There are very few things as hard to shake off as a well flown La7 engaging with around 500m of altitude advantage over his foe, as the combination of acceleration and maneouvering makes turning tables extremely difficult. In a La-7 you can even allow yourself to do some great high-G turns to win lead shots against avoiding enemies because you have the safety net of your maneouverability and energetic income in case that your advantage in energy starts fading away. Once that happens just climb, accelerate and once the energetic advantage is secured again, reengage. Remember that no matter that your plane turns well is NOT a turn fighter - it is an energy fighter, so use it as such.
CONCLUSSION:
The La-7 was a very nimble, powerful and dangerous enemy in the closing stages of WW2 and certainly it is so in War Thunder aswell. Just flying to the strenghts and trying to overcome the weaknesses by smart flying nets exceptional results indeed. On top of that this plane sits at level 12, but at level 13 there's yet another La7 which flies exactly the same and has 50% more firepower. Truly a fearsome opponent.
The main drawback of the La7 without question is how vulnerable it is to well flown boom and zoomers. It's simply way too light to compete in an equal footing with them in their own turf, so the trick lays in keep on avoiding their passes -something the La7's is highly capable of doing thanks to it's amazing maneouverability- and trying to lure them into a close fight. Once that's achieved your plane will simply ride you to victory.
Other of the main drawbacks of the La-7 is, buntly said, the teams. In WT's HB right now the quality of the russian teams is underpar if not downright extremely poor. Players who don't know better, or worse yet, who just don't care even while they know better, will refuse to climb under the premise that "their planes are better at low altitudes". While that's true, it's just an excuse for lazyness and lawnmowing ground targets - the La7 is perfectly able to defend himself at high altitude, and is much more survivable against enemies up there than when lawnmowing and subjected to constant BnZ attacks from the enemies who come at high altitude.
The whole strategy of soviet teams should be, opposite to what they do, to go as high as possible, engage the enemy there and drag them down to lower altitudes where their performance becomes stellar. Russian teams that do so are extremely hard (if not downright impossible) to beat. But sadly the average russian team will see 3/4 of the team not climbing over 2000m...and of course the inevitable ensues and the results ain't pretty.
For that particular reason (and not any other as this aircraft is excellent for lonewolfing) I'd strongly suggest anyone wishing to fly the La7 to squad up with two or three friends that will climb with you and engage the enemy with a brain (a commodity scarcely found in current soviet teams in Historical Battles). That will certainly make things much better and allow you to enjoy what's nothing short of an excellent fighter.
For further information, and to see gameplay of the plane flown right, check out my Youtube analysis on the plane
Nice analysis! xD
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