La-15 - last serials Lavochkin.

[Aardvark]

Could not get past this GB! Therefore, the last serial Lavochkin - La-15 is planned by me for assembly.

I plan to build  the La-15 from Marx Models, which for some reason is mistakenly named Mars Models on the box.😁

 

Why do I think that the name Marx Models is more suitable for this company? Because of their revolutionary approach to sales and buyers in the domestic market. See, there are no masks and instructions here:

???

So it was sold in model stores ... want to buy, want not. Moreover, this is a system problem in the models of this company; it was for this reason that the instruction was posted on the Internet.

It's no problem for my, but it is somehow wrong.

This week I plan to use to describe the history of this aircraft and the story of how Rolls-Royce "helped" Mikoyan and "killed" Lavochkin. And also retrospective 

compare all the La-15 models in 1/72 I have:

- VES/Cooperativa

- UNDA

- Mars Models 

- and the remains vacuform Aviastend(Acoustic😞

 

Yes, I have technical 
documentation on La-15 (many technical 
documentation it's evil on GB....ask my model MiG-21F, from Modelsvit, he will confirm!!!!!😁)

, but I no planned any big improvement this models....maybe only ejection seat....and maybe 

riveting.

Otherwise, this is a relatively self-sufficient model.

That's all for today.

 

B.R.

Serge

[modelling minion]

Should be an interesting project Serge, not a type you see built very often and not known by a lot of people.

Ah, Mikoyan and his visit to Rolls-Royce, wearing his famous soft soled shoes to collect fragments of metal from the machine shop floor so they could be studied. And then there is the fact that complete Nene engines were sold to them, which were then copied to make the VK-1 which would power the Mig-15 and cause so much trouble over the Korean peninsular. A very short sighted decision by the then British government.

[Aardvark]

1 hour ago, modelling minion said:

Ah, Mikoyan and his visit to Rolls-Royce, wearing his famous soft soled shoes to collect fragments of metal from the machine shop floor so they could be studied.

In the USSR, this strange deal was explained  a 

naive anecdote: “The episode of the 46th year is interesting, when Artyom Ivanovich visited Rolls-Royce as part of the Soviet delegation. It was about the purchase of several copies of promising jet engines Nene and Dervent. The contract was drawn up, but the head of the firm doubted whether to sign it. Then Mikoyan invited him to play a game of billiards and sign a deal in case of loss. So Artem Ivanovich “won” for the country what was then massively produced under the indices RD-45 and VK-1 and installed on MiG-15, MiG-17 and other combat aircraft ”- and, by the way, this is not written in“ yellow press", And in the" Military-Industrial Courier ".

http://www.aviaport.ru/digest/2005/08/03/93528.html

Moreover, Artem Mikoyan spoke about this on the phone to his brother Stepan Mikoyan, which he mentioned in his memoirs.

 

It seems to me more reliable next version of events.

 

"From Max Hastings's review "Our Battle with Britain" to the book by American explorer Jeffrey A. Engel "The Cold War at 30,000 feet. The war between England and America for air supremacy": "The first dispute took place in 1946, when the Soviet government requested licenses for the production of British jet engines and shortly thereafter purchased samples of Meteor and Vampire aircraft. "We hope Rolls-Royce, the manufacturer of both types of engines, wrote to the government," that the policy will not prevent us from fulfilling have this order! ”At first, the government was really negative. At the time when the RAF (Royal Air Force) was still flying piston airplanes, the Air Force Minister was shocked at the suggestion that he could find his squadrons leading an air battle with Russian jet aircraft built on advanced British technology.

But the left president of the chamber of commerce, Stafford Cripps, a politician who almost always made a mistake, passionately lobbied the sale to the Soviets of whatever they wanted. “This is a field in which we are ahead of the whole world and in which we can expect very profitable exports,” he wrote, “If we keep it, will we not interfere with firms whose research yields such remarkable results?” Prime Minister Clement Attlee decided to compromise, approved the sale of engines, but not airplanes. He wrote in September 26, 1946: "I see no reason for refusing to supply (engines) in the USSR, since the refusal will only cause anxiety and suspicion."

Approximately 85 engines Nin and Derwent Rolls-Royce were sent to the Soviets. The British Air Force Attache in Washington telegraphed to London about indignation in US military circles. Britain responded by referring to the economic situation, "which is deplorable and became similar to the situation in France" ...

The price paid for this deal came in November 1950. In the midst of the Korean War, the Russians stunned the West by deploying MiG-15 fighter jets, which surpassed everything the United States and Britain could lift into the air against them until the Sabers were deployed to Korea. In April 1951, Clarence Brown, a congressman from Ohio, declared that the downed MiG-15 had been found equipped with an engine - an exact replica of those that had been supplied by the British Russians.

Washington categorically denied this, stating that plane wreckage did not fall into the hands of Americans. Brown's revelations seemed discredited. But the congressman was not far from the truth. The US government lied to preserve the Atlantic alliance. It was true that not a single downed aircraft was found. But the Allies knew that the MiG-15 engine was indeed a copy of Rolls-Royce Nene. The confirmation came after studying the aircraft, shot down a few days after Brown's statement. London was forced to admit. that the 1946 decision to sell the Soviets was a terrible mistake ..."

Resource:

https://zadumov.livejournal.com/1157076.html

 

Thus, it can be assumed that the main reasons for this transaction were the poor financial condition of the UK after 2WW and the presence in the UK leadership of politicians who sympathized with the USSR.

 

True, I did not plan to write about the history of copying VK-1 in the USSR.

 

Rolls-Royce indirectly "helped" Mikoyan in his fight with Lavochkin somewhat differently. But more on that later.

 

B.R.

Serge

 

P.S. By the way, a similar trick with Rolls-Royce wanted to crank when they created the An-124! Then, exploring the wreckage of the C-5 Galaxy, which crashed during the evacuation from Vietnam in the USSR, came to the conclusion that copying its engines is impractical because of their high fuel consumption. Then there was the idea to buy engines for the An-124 from Rolls-Royce ..... 5 copies, for testing ..... but in Britain they have already begun to suspect something 😁 ..... and agreed to sell them only if the USSR had them will buy over 100 (or 200, I don’t remember) jet engine  ..... the deal did not take place and the USSR had to wish for its own D-18 engine for the An-124.

 

Edited January 13, 2019 by Aardvark

[Giorgio N]

Very interesting subject, looking forward to the story ! And also to your view on the various 1/72 kits, since I have the Cooperativa one in the stash. Who knows, maybe I should try to build one for this GB

[Aardvark]

Not exactly as I planned, but interesting.

 

Story about La-15 & his test-pilot.

 

Preamble.

 

Chief-pilot who tested many Lavochkin aircraft was Ivan Yevgrafovich Fedorov.

https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Фёдоров,_Иван_Евграфович

I.Ye.Fedorov took part in the Spanish Civil War, World War II, and

from October 1945 - test pilot of the OKB Design Bureau S. A. Lavochkin at aircraft factory No. 81 of the USSR Aviation Industry Ministry. Among the first began to experience domestic fighter jets. He conducted tests of aircraft La-150, La-150M, La-150F, La-156, La-174TK. In 1947, he raised to the sky and conducted tests of the first domestic aircraft with a swept wing La-160. In 1948, when testing the La-168, the first in the country reached a speed of 1000 km / h. In 1948, he raised to the sky and tested the La-15 fighter jet. 

 

But among the historians of the Soviet aviation, Ivan Yevgrafovich Fedorov gained the reputation of the "Baron Myunghausen of the Soviet Air Force".

 

Russian Wikipedia have special section:

"Controversial moments biography Fedorov"

Ivan Yevgrafovich often told the story he had invented about how Hermann Goering personally handed him a knight’s cross for brilliant flights on German planes in Germany (Fedorov was a participant in the pre-war trip of Soviet aviation specialists to this country).

Also according to Fedorov, he took part in the Korean War, and in all military conflicts in which he participated, he won 134 aerial victories.

 

Now it is difficult to explain what is connected with these stories of Fedorov. Perhaps this is due to the fact that after the October Revolution and the Civil war in Russia in the period from 1921 to 1927, as a teenager, Fedorov was street children

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_children

or  Bezpizornik

(Homeless children)

 

(On photo Homeless children

in Russia, 1920s)

as say on Russian:

https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Детская_беспризорность

 

A.Firsov in in his LJ, he suggests that Ivan Yevgrafovich was simply a great joker by character, who simply disliked unprofessional journalists who were sensational to sensations and therefore told them all kinds of nonsense.

As an example, he talks

https://afirsov.livejournal.com/408549.html

about such a joke of I.Ye.Fyodorov.

For best understand, in the Soviet Union, and on the territory of the states formed after the collapse of the USSR until the appearance of bank cards, the wages were paid at the cash desks of the factory, enterprises, institutions, etc.

On the day of a salary or advance payment, to such a box office window, as in this 

caricature:

a line of workers lined up and they received their money.

 

Story.

 

Once, on the payroll day in Lii (Flying Research Institute), Fedorov specially took the last place in the queue at the checkout. When everyone received the money due to them and left the premises, he asked the money he was given to give out the smallest denominations of one ruble. This was before the monetary reform of the USSR in 1961, so the package for the volume was very impressive.

Pilots and mechanics had not yet had time to go home when Fedorov appeared on the threshold of the ticket office with a very impressive package of money in his hands. In response to the puzzled views of colleagues, he said: "The Big Bosse's know who the best test pilot in the USSR!"

.....and go to the twilight.

😁😁😁

 

Epilogue

 

According to statistics, the number of homeless children after the Civil War in Russia was:

1921- 6 000 000

1923 - 4 000 000 

 

Homeless children were completed in the 1930s, for which special orphanages were created in the USSR, and special goverment programs

https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Детская_беспризорность_и_безнадзорность_в_СССР

for their prior employment were adopted. However, this problem reappeared after the collapse of the USSR.

 

In open letter, USSR Emeritus Test Pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union, retired Aviation Lieutenant General S.A. Mikoyan, and USSR Honored Test Pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union, retired colonel A.A. Shcherbakov say the following
According to the personal file of I. Ye. Fedorov in Spain, he shot down two planes, and in the Great Patriotic War made 114 combat sorties, conducted 15 air battles and shot down 11 airplanes personally and alone in a group. He did not commit enemy aircraft rams ... And he did not participate in the Korean War, as Fedorov talks about, and did not shoot down American planes.

 

Nevertheless, Yury Smirnov wrote in "Krylya Rodiny" magazine No. 7, 2000:
In the archival personal file No. 8803, it appears that during his stay in Spain he “made 286 combat sorties, conducted 36 air battles, in which he showed exceptional examples of air combat. I personally shot down 11 enemy planes and 13 in the group. ”

 

The description of the pilot Fedorov, compiled at the place of service before the war, indicates high professionalism and excellent aircraft piloting technique, but at the same time painful vanity, craving for awards, a tendency to self-glorification is noted.

 

For courage and heroism shown during the testing of a new aviation technology, Colonel Fedorov Ivan Evgrafovich Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated March 5, 1948 was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 8303).

08/04/1948 awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

 

The first flight on the fighter "174" - prototype La-15 was made by test-pilot I. Ye. Fedorov on January 8, 1948. Almost immediately, the aircraft was strongly shaken, and in the 44th flight the plane was lost due to it. Fedorov managed to escape by jumping from an unguided aircraft.

 

Birth - February 10 (23) 1914 - Death
February 12, 2011 (96 years old).

 

On site Warheroes:

http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=414

 

B.R.

Serge

 

P.S.

Next, story about La-15 "v.s." MiG-15 &  "help" Rolls-Royce.

 

 

[Col.]

This thread is off to a facinating start already Serge and you've not even got underway with the kit  I also didn't realise there was so many different kits of the La-15 - although they do share remarkably similar artwork.

[Aardvark]

On 1/15/2019 at 9:19 PM, Aardvark said:

Next, story about La-15 "v.s." MiG-15 &  "help" Rolls-Royce

At the moment I wrote about 2.5 pages 🤤in the Word and realized that I had to write so much more! Of course, I began to describe everything from afar, from the beginning of the 40s, but without prehistory it will be incomprehensible (or vice versa, even more confusing!) Why it all happened that way.

 

The history is like a tangle of a lot of thread, you begin to unravel one thread and immediately there are several more threads.

So I’ll have to build a model and do graphomania 😁 for this topic.

 

However, after seeing how cheerfully everyone began to demonstrate the beginning of the assembly, I understood - I also need to do something!!! 😁

First off all, I clear two this spruce (of three)

from details:

It's was easy!😁

Then came the turn, something to glue:

and something to sanding:

Small parts when assembling require minimal fit. Here you will need to, just gently bite the parts out of the spruce, so that later you don’t work with putty with holes, as I have to do with the hole on the drop tank.

Pay attention to the well-developed tire relief in the form of a tread and stencil!

The compatibility of large parts is somewhat worse. A photo of the left wing shows sand from inside the wing, a photo of the right wing shows the surface of the wing that has not been treated internally.

On the left wing, almost perfect joint after processing, on the right, not treated wing, there is a step of 0.2-0.3 mm. Yes, step of 0.2-0.3 mm it's not many and there seems to be no problem cleaning everything with sandpaper ?!

But then you will kill the entire exterior relief with sandpaper! 

Therefore, you need to sharpen plastic from the inside. Not ideally, but it's short-run, even though it is modern high-tech short-run. 

Be careful, not to waste this pin from the inside of the drop-tank:

Well, the glue parts need to dry, and I need to sleep.

So far, everything assembling  is going well.

 

B.R.

Serge

 

[Col.]

A combined history lesson and in-depth model kit review; your progress is always a pleasure to read Serge

[Aardvark]

Dry assembling fuselage:

As You can see, it fits very well without glue.

Wing in assembling,  all over the adult, 😁with glue (!)

Fuselage & left wing dry assembling:

Cockpit:

Main wheel bay with installed photoetch and dry assembling wheel bay internal fuel tank:

viev on back guns in wheel bay:

About wheels bay colour key.

 

"judging by the  sole survivor La-15 in Monino (pretty smeared in several layers). Initially, the internal surfaces of the wheel bay were treated with a yellow primer and on top with a light gray paint. The leaves from the inside remained after cadmium treatment with a yellowish sheen.
To all appearances, the central tanks were lined with a thick cloth and were painted on top (silver or gray - you can't figure it out), but the tanks were fastened with aluminum tapes with felt belts under them (brownish)."

from 

http://scalemodels.ru/modules/forum/viewtopic.php?t=54952&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=120

 

 

B.w. did you know that the La-15 behind the ejection seat had a secret door😁:

that led to the bar-restaurant to the fuselage?

😁😁😁

But there were large gaps, of which there was a draft, so they were covered with foam(!):

😁😁

In fact, I just decided to improve ejection seat:

 

B.R.

Serge

 

P.S.

So far, the assembly of the model has good feelings, but this model is very strict to be assembled and requires careful preliminary fitting of the parts dry without glue.

If you do not do this, I am afraid that these problems cannot be avoided:

 

 

Edited January 21, 2019 by Aardvark

[Col.]

The detail of parts and their fit certainly look promising Serge.

 

2 hours ago, Aardvark said:

that led to the bar-restaurant to the fuselage?

Ah ha! A mini-bar with which to toast victory over the Capitalist Pig. Excellent

[Aardvark]

Little sequel.

On 1/22/2019 at 1:07 AM, Col. said:

Ah ha! A mini-bar with which to toast victory over the Capitalist Pig. Excellent 

But the Soviet party and government in the fight against bourgeois excesses and alcoholism ordered to close the entrance to the bar-restaurant 😁with metal ribbons and rails!

What is displayed in the technical documentation:

However, in response to complaints from pilots, as a compromise, a tap with beer 😁was held in the cockpit:

😉

😁😁😁

Semi-improvement ejection seat:

The manufacturer definitely does not like the 72nd scale, because all the improvements that I made on the 72m scale,

on the 48th scale, do not need to - they are in the model!

☹

Everything becomes even more interesting if you start to deal with modifications! The fact is that the La-15 were early and late episodes. Apparently, the model of the La-15 in 72nd scale represents the latest series!

In 48th scale all normally, because this models have two type fin & two type main wheel bay door with wheel fairing & without wheel fairing on door.

Probably later, La-15 early series were modified to the later series and received new doors and wheels.

Therefore, the time period becomes important.

So, consider the options:

What do we see?

White "108" & "230" as and red "212" it's most likely early series aircraft, like red "01"

& "08".

In addition, the view red "212" has significant differences from viev red "212" M. Petrovsky art:

Blue "415" :

it's testbad aircraft late series, but from LII (Flying Research Institute), that is, it is not a combat unit. In addition, this aircraft subsequently crashed.

Blue "317" aircraft of the early  series (because clear wheel bay door),

Most reliably, that red "457" is a late series, but an unknown unit.

But it should be noted that all units armed with La-15 were located in the European part of the USSR. About these units, I will write later.

 

Well, I have to do La-15 late series red "457", unknown unit.

 

Resource photo:

 

 

http://www.airbase.ru/hangar/planes/russia/la/la-15/

 

http://airwar.ru/enc/fighter/la15.html

 

 

B.R.

Serge

 

Edited January 23, 2019 by Aardvark

[Col.]

It's always good to find a photograph of the subject to confirm or, as is all to often the case, refute details of a kit colourscheme and decals