I may buy the La-5 and I want you to tell me what you think of it

[[ESUS]Hipocampo08 1]

Hello guys,

 

I think this topic's title is pretty descriptive. Anyway, I've been thinking about buying the russian fighter La-5, and I want to know what you think of that aircraft.

I've read that it's an awful plane. I'm not scared of it, I do not mind being at disadvantage in a dogfight, so that's not a real problem.

I want to know if you have enjoyed flying this plane!

 

Cheers! See you in the skies!

Edited October 25, 2017 by ESUSHipocampo08

[curiousGamblerr 930]

It's a poor many's 190 in a lot of ways. My only complaint about it is the rear visibility.

[ElPerk 41]

It's fast, it rolls well, it's quite manouverable, it hits hard, it can take a beating, and it's easy to take off and land in.

It also has dismal visibility, you can't check your six without manouvering the plane, and you'll be spending quality time with radiator and cowl flap controls.

[-=-THERION 540]

As already told the rear view isn't that great - but anyway you won't fly straight the whole way in combat,

so flying in gentle curves you will still have the situational awareness of your six.

 

It's fast, has a powerful radial engine and makes a lot of fun to fly it - I love it! And no, it's not an awful plane.

 

Cheerio

 

p.s: Buy it!

 

p.p.s: Buy it now!

Edited October 25, 2017 by Therion

[SvAF/F16_radek 196]

A matter of taste and flying style.

 

With the vanilla engine I agree with Curious, it really is a poor mans 190 with bad rearward visibility.

 

With the 82f it's the only VVS aircraft that makes me smile when I spot a gang of 109's below 2k, because I know I can go straight in and get away with it.

[OrLoK 325]

I have all the collector planes and IMHO theyre all worth it.

 

They all have their strengths and weaknesses.

 

But theyre all fun to fly, especially with the new FM.

 

Save your pennies and get em all!

[Livai 271]

Yes, a lot - now where have you hidden the La-5FN from us btw 

Edited October 25, 2017 by Livai

[Jade_Monkey 2497]

It received a lot of praise especially after the last FM update.

 

Personally i haven't had much success with it

 

It could be my input settings but i find this plane is incredibly wobbly with small adjustments when you are aiming for a shot.

 

I dont get that with other planes (same settings).

[[ESUS]Hipocampo08 1]

As already told the rear view isn't that great - but anyway you won't fly straight the whole way in combat,

so flying in gentle curves you will still have the situational awareness of your six.

 

It's fast, has a powerful radial engine and makes a lot of fun to fly it - I love it! And no, it's not an awful plane.

 

Cheerio

 

p.s: Buy it!

 

p.p.s: Buy it now!

SIR YES SIR PROCEEDING TO THE STORE NOW

I just wanted to read "It's not an awful plane", cause people were very dramatic about this plane's performance in other topics.

 

 

It received a lot of praise especially after the last FM update.

 

Personally i haven't had much success with it

 

It could be my input settings but i find this plane is incredibly wobbly with small adjustments when you are aiming for a shot.

 

I dont get that with other planes (same settings).

Well, I quite suck at aiming even with a 109, so I will try this one hard so I improve my overall skills at shooting...

 

 

I will report in this very topic throughout this week! Thank you guys!

[Finkeren 5786]

Below 2000m I find it to be hands-down the best VVS fighter. It is very fast, quite maneuverable (rolls like hell), carries solid armament and is one of the sturdier planes in the sim.

 

Its main drawbacks are complicated controls, poor rearward visibility, short range and duration, poor placement of gunsight and mediocre performance above 2000m.

 

As an added bonus you can carry all AP ammo for the ShVAKs, which will shred any fighter and have no tracers allowing you stealthy kills because your target doesn’t notice your shots until they actually hit.

Edited October 25, 2017 by Finkeren

[Benti 10]

Finkeren, what do you mean by complicated controls?
Cowls and radiator settings? Or are there additionally hidden complications that I haven't encountered yet?
For me it just starts lacking performance above the 2k line. It's a bit more tuning compared to laggs and yaks but that it's so far for me.

cheers

[Finkeren 5786]

La-5 engine controls:

 

Throttle

Rpm governor

Mixture

Forsazh button

Supercharger gear

Cowl inlet shutters

Cowl outlet shutters

Oil radiator

 

Add to that trim tabs on all control surfaces.

 

Compared to the Fw 190A3 which has the following engine controls (when using auto):

 

Throttle.

[[ESUS]Hipocampo08 1]

La-5 engine controls:

 

Throttle

Rpm governor

Mixture

Forsazh button

Supercharger gear

Cowl inlet shutters

Cowl outlet shutters

Oil radiator

 

Add to that trim tabs on all control surfaces.

 

Compared to the Fw 190A3 which has the following engine controls (when using auto):

 

Throttle.

 

I think I'm going to enjoy just learning to fly this machine... :biggrin:

[Finkeren 5786]

I think I'm going to enjoy just learning to fly this machine... :biggrin:

It’s not actually hard. The Shvetzov is pretty forgiving, but compared to the German fighters it’s a bit of a hazzle.

[ST_Pirato 34]

I lately started flying on full real servers, using the La5 a lot.  I leave the shutters and oil rad open mostly,temps are allright most of the time. Leaving the outlet shutters closed to gain additional speed,but always keep an eye on the temps. Oil radiator seems to not have much impact on performance,open or not...so I leave it open except for long dives or engine set to low power. I'm not yet sure on how to best operate the RPM. I have it set to 2400RPM,which seems to be max and only use the Throttle to reduce power for things like cruise.

[Cpt_Siddy 682]

La-5 engine controls:

 

Throttle

Rpm governor

Mixture

Forsazh button

Supercharger gear

Cowl inlet shutters

Cowl outlet shutters

Oil radiator

 

Add to that trim tabs on all control surfaces.

 

Compared to the Fw 190A3 which has the following engine controls (when using auto):

 

Throttle.

 

 

How big is the oil rad impact on speed tho? That thing was designed to have literally no impact open or closed on the drag. 

 

And the major drag component is really only the cowl outlet. Inlet is not the draggiest part but i have not tested this. 

[Micromagos 0]

The M-85F engine upgrade with unlimited boost duration is one substantial upgrade. At low alt with it you can effectively match or outrun everything except the FW190.

[Field-Ops 316]

I keep my Inlet fully open and just use the outlet to manage heat/drag. Oil I keep at about the same setting I put my outlet at. I play it almost like I do my Fw190 and it does that job well. It does the vertical maneuvering much better in medium speeds than the 190 does. High speeds is 190 territory but if you can make them bleed the speed youl have them in the bag. 

[F/JG300_Gruber 491]

It's the only VVS fighter I care of. It is similar to the 190 in some ways but have some strength of it's own. Some pilots do wonders in dogfight with it. 

As other mentioned, rear view isn't great (not worse than the LaGG and yak1 ser.69 though) but the plane itself is nice to fly, and competitive.

Definitely not a bad plane, and looking at a big shvetsov on my 6 is always an unpleasant sight.

 

And most importantly, it has an engine that spins in the proper direction ! 

Edited October 25, 2017 by F/JG300_Gruber

[ACG_Herne 827]

If you are enjoying IL2, Chances are you will end up owning all of the purchasable content at some point or other, so its more a question of the order you would like to buy these aircraft.

One of the things I love about IL2 is how unique each of the AC feel to fly. Dev's did a great job here.

 

LA5 is a really nice AC, I think you would enjoy it, but then I think you would enjoy flying every AC in IL2. Even the JU52

[VesseL 91]

La-5 is great plane. one of my favorite. Its ok dogfighter and its also good energyfighter and all between. Especially the new F model engine with unlimited boost. Its the fastest vvs plane. Speed and roll and slow speed manovering are the strong points i think. And guns.

 

How big is the oil rad impact on speed tho? That thing was designed to have literally no impact open or closed on the drag. 

 

And the major drag component is really only the cowl outlet. Inlet is not the draggiest part but i have not tested this. 

 

This. I use 75-100% open outlet cowl for cruising, and 15-50% outlet cowl open for dogfight and chasing the running 109 or 190. Depends the sitution and how cold its outside

[ACG_Herne 827]

I'm probably doing it all wrong, but to save on key bindings I bound inlet and outlet cowlings to the same axis.

So when inlet is wide open, so is the outlet. It seems to work well enough for me, but I'm probably losing some valuable KPH

[VesseL 91]

Dont know how wrong or right it is, but i leave the inlet full open and control only the outlet cowls.

[GridiroN 190]

La-5 is that girl who could go from a 6 to a 9 if she lost 20lbs

[SvAF/F16_radek 196]

So when inlet is wide open, so is the outlet. It seems to work well enough for me, but I'm probably losing some valuable KPH

You are Herne.

 

If talking about the forever boost 82f engine:

 

Set inlet to 100% and forget about it. Should only be used when in danger of over cooling or cold starts. It does not affect drag.

 

For summer maps:

 

Oil cooler at 30%

Cowl inlet at 100%

Cowl outlet at 15%

Pitch 100%

 

Winter maps or rather cold weather:

 

Oil cooler at 15%

Cowl inlet at 100%

Cowl outlet at 7%

Pitch 100%

 

As long as speed is kept up these settings are on the conservative side and will allow full throttle/boost til running on fumes. Oil cooler does not affect drag as much as outlet.

 

My good to know mental notes:

On a summer map speed difference is only ~ 5-7 kph at treetop height between the la5 82f and a 109F4 on emergency power. Both with a full tank.

Around 1-1.5k meter height it's even and already at 2k the 109 has a slight speed advantage.

 

While the la5's speed advantage at deck level may seem small, it's a comparison between limited emergency mode and in the la's case continuous power.

 

When fuel is running low the la5 enters 'god mode'. Power to weight ratio is hilarious and It will easily catch a 109 emergency climbing from 1-2k. alt.

Edited October 25, 2017 by a_radek

[LukeFF 4390]

Dont know how wrong or right it is, but i leave the inlet full open and control only the outlet cowls.

 

It's what the in-game notes say to do, so you're fine (except that, in a dive, they should be closed).

Edited October 25, 2017 by LukeFF

[Red_Cat 579]

My favourite Russian fighter. Easier to fly than all of the others IMHO. But then I'm a ground-pounder really.

Still, well worth having - just remember your cowl flaps and you'll have fun.

Cheers.

[[TWB]80hd 554]

I suck with the guns in it, but I suck with the guns in most of the the stuff that has guns... pound for pound though, given its online availability, it's a solid investment bang for your buck wise as far as the Russian stable goes.

[Max_Damage 61]

Russian fighters are always slower and always climb worse. This one has these disadvantages minimized. It can even slowly outrun an f4 if it doesnt use emergency at deck. It has approx the same speed when compared to a g2 and is slower then a focke wulf. However you dont need to be faster to close, you just need the opponent to be busy with something else for some time and then you have a window of opportunity to close the gap and open fire at least from a large distance. Which does one of three things:

miss

hit

force the opponent to stop fleeing

 

me109 intercepts are most probable when you are using a la5 and this plane increases german casualties on WOL because it just doesnt let them run way like usually.

 

Among present russian fighters this plane will fly the fastest and do a highest chandelle. These perks are a step towards beating german technology but it only happened with late la5f and la5fn so dont expect it here its still worse by a large margin. It is one of the early and worse la5.

 

I think it is the best russian fighter because it can do more then the others. m82f engine allows you to fly WEP most of the time and WEP means ~+30 kmh initially which gives a better chance of intercept.

Unfortunately the turnfighting in this plane is quite bad and you ll lose to an f4 24/7. Also rear visibility is non existent see lagg3.

Edited October 25, 2017 by Max_Damage

[ShamrockOneFive 2480]

I like the La-5 a lot. It's not automatically better than the other Russian fighters nor is it superior versus the German types but it does come with some advantages. Decent firepower, an excellent roll rate, and low altitude top speed performance at the start of its appearance on the front lines is very good if not one of the fastest on the deck. It's just not a turn fighter really.

 

What I really find cool is how they managed to get a little more longevity out of the La-5. With the more recently added M-82F engine mod (allowing unlimited time limit on the engine boost - heating/cooling aside), you now have a little more speed to work with and that lets the La-5 compete in Battle of Kuban. It adds some diversity, brings more BoS Premium players into Kuban multplayer, and its just really fun to get that kind of extra little bit from it with the upgraded engine.

 

I'd definitely recommend it. It's fun to fly, its very capable, and you can get a lot of use out of it across Battle of Stalingrad and Battle of Kuban single and multiplayer matches.

[=WH=PangolinWranglin 104]

I quite like the thing, although I haven't had much of a chance to fly it with the new FMs (college is hell) but I have heard much praise and I cannot wait to get more of a chance to fly it. Below 2k it can really hold its own. Above 2k its sorta viable in a team, but the power falls off so much it's a better idea to dive back down and scream across the deck. 

[ITAF_Rani 441]

L5 is good plane and really manouvrable and resistant to shot down.Remember one time I set on fire one and after a dive the fire stopped and the guy came back to base.

In the right hands is a dengerous plane

[Cpt_Siddy 682]

LA-5 is made from hardest material known to man, Stalinium delta wood. 

[-WILD-AlbinoHA5E 37]

It's a good aircraft, and pretty easy to manage if you fly it in it's comfort zone

• Mixture is just left at 100%, that's Auto Rich
• RPM is left at 100% (2400RPM)
• Throttle is left at 100%
• Oil cooler is left at 100% (influence on speed is less than 2 kph)
• Inlet is left at 100%, unless on landing approach
• Outlet is left at 0%, unless climbing steeply (15%) or manouvering sharply (50%, 100% if overhating)
• Boost for 112-Engine is for dogfight only
• For F-Engine you put in boost and forget it
• Best continuous operating altitude is 2500m for standard model, 1200m for F-Engine.

that are the general rules for keeping flying simple in the La-5. simple, easy to remember, working instructions. Gosh, you guys seem to be trying to make things difficult for yourselves.

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf 677]

Get it, it's a great gun platform with 2 cannons. Very stable in low energy situations, and fast on the deck. It's all about that engine. Inlet shutters 100%, oil rad 70%, outlet 5-10%, throttle & rpm 100%, and off you go, all day long. Putting RPM and throttle on the same lever and retract them in a dive, nothing much can happen to you.  

 

Add: Didn't see AlbinoHase's post. Go with his recommendations 

Edited October 26, 2017 by 2./JG51_Fenris_Wolf

[CUJO_1970 915]

You should absolutely buy this plane.

 

Don't think about, just go buy it!

[Jack59 11]

I just bought it and spent the last 2 hours flying it. I love it already. I really like the hands-on nature of managing that big radial. And I more than once laughed out loud when I experienced what a well placed burst from those twin 20mm cannons will do to a 109.

[Archie 229]

I bought the LA-5 after I saw this...

Edited October 27, 2017 by Archie

[Wulf 512]

Certainly a good series of demonstrations on how not to fly a 109.

[56RAF_Roblex 826]

I bought the LA-5 after I saw this...

 

Lol  So did I :-)    Like you I thought 'Well if he can throw it around like that and come away with kills then maybe I can.'   which is probably not true :-)